Should You Buy Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR)?

Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR) investors should pay attention to an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately.

In today’s marketplace, there are tons of methods shareholders can use to track publicly traded companies. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best investment managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Alere Inc

Just as key, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of incentives for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if you understand where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a glance at the latest action regarding Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR).

How have hedgies been trading Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR)?

At year’s end, a total of 24 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 4% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management had the biggest position in Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR), worth close to $45 million, comprising 0.5% of its total 13F portfolio. On Orbis Investment Management’s heels is Private Capital Management, managed by Gregg J. Powers, which held a $31 million position; the fund has 3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Quincy Lee’s Ancient Art (Teton Capital), Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management and Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Highbridge Capital Management, managed by Glenn Russell Dubin, initiated the largest position in Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR). Highbridge Capital Management had 10 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates also initiated a $8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new ALR positions are Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management, Joseph Edelman’s Perceptive Advisors, and Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital.

How have insiders been trading Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results shown by our studies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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