Should You Avoid Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc – Ordinary Shares (JAZZ)?

In today’s marketplace, there are a multitude of gauges market participants can use to analyze their holdings. Two of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can trounce the broader indices by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as useful, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to look at the financial markets. Obviously, there are many stimuli for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc - Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:JAZZ)

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s study the latest info for Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc – Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:JAZZ).

Hedge fund activity in Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc – Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:JAZZ)

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 25 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -4% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

According to our 13F database, Paulson & Co, managed by John Paulson, holds the largest position in Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc – Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:JAZZ). Paulson & Co has a $66.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.5% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Columbus Circle Investors, managed by Donald Chiboucis, which held a $46.3 million position; the fund has 0.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers with similar optimism include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Philip Hempleman’s Ardsley Partners and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.

Judging by the fact that Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc – Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:JAZZ) has faced a fall in interest from upper-tier hedge fund managers, we can see that there is a sect of funds that elected to cut their positions entirely in Q1. At the top of the heap, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors sold off the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, totaling close to $22.1 million in stock, and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell of Arrowstreet Capital was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $3.6 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds in Q1.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc – Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:JAZZ)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc – Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:JAZZ) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc – Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:JAZZ). These stocks are Theravance Inc (NASDAQ:THRX), Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN), Medivation Inc (NASDAQ:MDVN), Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY), and Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA). This group of stocks are the members of the biotechnology industry and their market caps resemble JAZZ’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Theravance Inc (NASDAQ:THRX) 24 0 0
Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) 13 0 0
Medivation Inc (NASDAQ:MDVN) 30 0 0
Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) 17 0 0
Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) 17 0 0

Using the returns demonstrated by our strategies, average investors should always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc – Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:JAZZ) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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