Allergan plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:AGN) received two separate pieces of good news on Tuesday. First, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare granted the company a National Marketing Authorisation for the company’s BOTOX Vista, for the treatment of crow’s feet in adult patients. That’s good news owing to the fact that Japan is a wealthy country with a substantial percentage of elderly people. Medical aesthetics is a fast growing sector in the country, with a 56% increase in the occasions of non-surgical and surgical treatments performed from 2010 to 2014. The approval should help Allergan plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:AGN) realize more profits in the country. Secondly, the FDA accepted Allergan’s NDA for oxymetazoline HCl cream 1.0% for review. The cream is for the potential treatment of a symptom associated with rosacea, which is a chronic skin condition that affects more than 16 million people in the United States. Oxymetazoline HCL cream 1.0% should have a PDUFA date in the first half of 2017.
Heading into the second quarter of 2016, a total of 170 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a 7% rise from one quarter earlier. According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, John Paulson’s Paulson & Co has the number one position in Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN), worth close to $1.45 billion, amounting to 10.7% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Dan Loeb of Third Point, with a $1.34 billion position; 12.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism comprise Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global, Matthew Halbower’s Pentwater Capital Management, and Paul Singer’s Elliott Management.
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The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why we will examine companies such as Sanofi SA (ADR) (NYSE:SNY), Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA), and NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) on the next page, to gather more data points.
Key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd into Allergan during the first quarter. Lone Pine Capital, managed by Stephen Mandel, created the most valuable position in Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN). Lone Pine Capital had $479.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group also initiated a $461.4 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital, Elliott Management, and Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Sanofi SA (ADR) (NYSE:SNY), Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA), NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE), and BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to AGN’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| SNY | 30 | 813530 | -1 |
| MA | 80 | 6217221 | 0 |
| NKE | 64 | 3648837 | 1 |
| BP | 34 | 685461 | 2 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 52 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.84 billion. That figure was $20.11 billion in AGN’s case. Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Sanofi SA (ADR) (NYSE:SNY) is the least popular one with only 30 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN) is far 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.
Disclosure: None
