Should You Buy Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (PCRX)?

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Visium Asset Management, managed by Jacob Gottlieb, established the most outsized position in Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX). Visium Asset Management had $121.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Alex Denner’s Sarissa Capital Management also made a $15.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new PCRX positions are James Dondero’s Highland Capital Management, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, and Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX) but similarly valued. We will take a look at WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ:WBMD), Lannett Company, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:LCI), Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc (NYSE:IVR), and Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to PCRX’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 18.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $229 million. That figure was $405 million in PCRX’s case. WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ:WBMD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.