Should You Avoid Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (ADR) (FMS)?

Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (ADR) (NYSE:FMS) was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. FMS investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund interest recently. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with FMS positions at the end of the previous quarter.

Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (ADR) (NYSE:FMS)At the moment, there are tons of metrics shareholders can use to watch stocks. A couple of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outpace the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. There are a number of reasons for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, let’s take a gander at the recent action encompassing Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (ADR) (NYSE:FMS).

What have hedge funds been doing with Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (ADR) (NYSE:FMS)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -14% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the biggest position in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (ADR) (NYSE:FMS), worth close to $8.3 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Christopher C. Grisanti of Grisanti Brown & Partners, with a $8.1 million position; 3.8% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining peers with similar optimism include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.

Judging by the fact that Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (ADR) (NYSE:FMS) has witnessed declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there was a specific group of hedge funds who sold off their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group said goodbye to the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, valued at close to $3 million in stock., and Robert B. Gillam of McKinley Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $1.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds last quarter.

Insider trading activity in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (ADR) (NYSE:FMS)

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (ADR) (NYSE:FMS) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (ADR) (NYSE:FMS). These stocks are Hanger Inc (NYSE:HGR), Acadia Healthcare Company Inc (NASDAQ:ACHC), HEALTHSOUTH Corp. (NYSE:HLS), Mednax Inc. (NYSE:MD), and DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA). This group of stocks are in the specialized health services industry and their market caps match FMS’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Hanger Inc (NYSE:HGR) 10 0 15
Acadia Healthcare Company Inc (NASDAQ:ACHC) 14 1 18
HEALTHSOUTH Corp. (NYSE:HLS) 22 1 1
Mednax Inc. (NYSE:MD) 14 0 9
DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA) 36 1 11

With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned tactics, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (ADR) (NYSE:FMS) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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