What Does This Metric Say About Aimmune Therapeutics Inc (AIMT)?

Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and famous investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds and investors’ positions as of the end of the third quarter. You can find write-ups about an individual hedge fund’s trades on numerous financial news websites. However, in this article we will take a look at their collective moves and analyze what the smart money thinks of Aimmune Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AIMT) based on that data.

Aimmune Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AIMT) was in 10 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of September, as the company went public in August and captured the attention of several smart money investors.

According to most market participants, hedge funds are assumed to be underperforming, old investment vehicles of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at the moment, Hedge fund experts at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the moguls of this group, about 700 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people preside over the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by paying attention to their finest stock picks, Insider Monkey has revealed several investment strategies that have historically outrun the market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outrun the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per annum for a decade in their back tests.

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the recent action encompassing Aimmune Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AIMT).

What does the smart money think about Aimmune Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AIMT)?

At the end of September, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who amassed substantial positions in the company.

According to hedge fund intelligence website Insider Monkey, Aisling Capital, managed by Dennis Purcell, holds the number one position in Aimmune Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AIMT). Aisling Capital has a $71.4 million position in the stock, comprising 12.6% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management , with a $31.4 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions comprise Christopher MedlockáJames’s Partner Fund Management, Jerome Pfund and Michael Sjostrom’s Sectoral Asset Management and Peter Kolchinsky’s RA Capital Management.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Aimmune Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AIMT). We will take a look at Knoll Inc (NYSE:KNL), Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI), Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:UVE), and Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IILG). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to AIMT’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 15 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $61 million. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Knoll Inc (NYSE:KNL) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Aimmune Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AIMT) is even less popular than KNL, but assuming that the company has just gone public, it’s really not surprising. The fact that 10 funds held shares is already a signal that Aimmune may be poised for future gains, but due diligence is required, since the company has yet to win the confidence of more investors and establish itself on the market.