Should You Buy Shire PLC (ADR) (SHPG)?

To many traders, hedge funds are perceived as delayed, outdated investment vehicles of an era lost to time. Although there are In excess of 8,000 hedge funds trading currently, Insider Monkey aim at the aristocrats of this club, about 525 funds. Analysts calculate that this group has its hands on most of the hedge fund industry’s total assets, and by watching their highest quality picks, we’ve deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (see all of our picks from August).

Equally as crucial, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to look at the marketplace. Obviously, there are plenty of motivations for an insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

Furthermore, it’s important to examine the newest info for Shire PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:SHPG).

Shire PLC (ADR)

What does the smart money think about Shire PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:SHPG)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 24 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 26% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Paulson & Co, managed by John Paulson, holds the most valuable position in Shire PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:SHPG). Paulson & Co has a $270.4 million position in the stock, comprising 1.9% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell of Arrowstreet Capital, with a $119.9 million position; the fund has 0.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds with similar optimism include Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Jerome Pfund and Michael Sjostrom’s Sectoral Asset Management.

With a general bullishness amongst the titans, certain bigger names were leading the bulls’ herd. Paulson & Co, managed by John Paulson, initiated the most valuable position in Shire PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:SHPG). Paulson & Co had 270.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also made a $119.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new SHPG investors: Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, and Jerome Pfund and Michael Sjostrom’s Sectoral Asset Management.

How are insiders trading Shire PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:SHPG)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, Shire PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:SHPG) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Using the results demonstrated by our studies, regular investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Shire PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:SHPG) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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