Is Lion Biotechnologies Inc (LBIO) About to Roar?

A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended September 30, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on Lion Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:LBIO).

Lion Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:LBIO) investors should pay attention to an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently, with there being a net total of 2 more hedge funds in our system long the stock. At the end of this article we will also compare LBIO to other stocks including REX American Resources Corp (NYSE:REX), Dorian LPG Ltd (NYSE:LPG), and Exar Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAR) to get a better sense of its popularity.

At Insider Monkey, we’ve developed an investment strategy that has delivered market-beating returns over the past 12 months. Our strategy identifies the 100 best-performing funds of the previous quarter from among the collection of 700+ successful funds that we track in our database, which we accomplish using our returns methodology. We then study the portfolios of those 100 funds using the latest 13F data to uncover the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks (market caps of between $1 billion and $10 billion) among them to hold until the next filing period. This strategy delivered 18% gains over the past 12 months, more than doubling the 8% returns enjoyed by the S&P 500 ETFs.

What have hedge funds been doing with Lion Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:LBIO)?

At Q3’s end, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a 12% rise from one quarter earlier. While ownership of the stock among hedgies has alternated between going up and down in recent quarters, the moves have been small in both directions. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, venBio Select Advisor, managed by Behzad Aghazadeh, holds the biggest position in Lion Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:LBIO). venBio Select Advisor has a $35 million position in the stock, comprising 6.1% of its 13F portfolio. On venBio Select Advisor’s heels is Perceptive Advisors, led by Joseph Edelman, holding a $29.4 million position; the fund has 1.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish include Samuel Isaly’s OrbiMed Advisors, Kevin Kotler’s Broadfin Capital and Alan Frazier’s Frazier Healthcare Partners.

Consequently, specific money managers have jumped into Lion Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:LBIO) headfirst. Sabby Capital, managed by Hal Mintz, created the biggest call position in Lion Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:LBIO). Sabby Capital had $0.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies also initiated a $0.2 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new LBIO investors: Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Mike Vranos’ Ellington.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Lion Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:LBIO) but similarly valued. We will take a look at REX American Resources Corp (NYSE:REX), Dorian LPG Ltd (NYSE:LPG), Exar Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAR), and Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to LBIO’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 9 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $54 million. That figure was $163 million in LBIO’s case. Exar Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Lion Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:LBIO) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers and have more money invested in it, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.

Disclosure: None