Amicus Therapeutics Inc. (FOLD): Palo Alto Investors Sells Half of its Stake At Sky-High Valuation

William Leland Edwards’ Palo Alto Investors disclosed today a 50% decrease in its exposure to Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FOLD). According to a Schedule 13G form filed with the SEC, the fund now owns about 1.95 million shares of Common Stock, which represent almost 2.5% of the company’s outstanding stock, down from 3.97 million shares declared by the end of the second quarter of 2014.

Palo Alto Investors is a California-based investment firm with more than $1 billion in assets under management, mostly focused on healthcare stocks. The firm seeks to deliver superior returns by investing for the long term, usually in companies with market capitalizations between $100 million and $3 billion. The company was founded in 1989 by William Leland Edwards, and is currently run by Dr. Anthony JoonKyoo Yun (President and Partner) and Dr. Patrick Y. Lee (Partner).

Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FOLD) returned more than 200% in the first 9 months of the year. However, the stock fell 17.25% over September, and Palo Alto Investors decided to sell half of its stock before the price continued to plummet. In addition to this fund, several insiders have been trimming their stakes in the company lately. Over the past two months, the company saw at least 20 insider sales, and some remarkable ones are those of William Baird, Chief Financial Officer, and Kenneth Peist, Vice President at two of the company’s sectors. In the past few days, Mr. Peist disposed of 42,061 shares, for which he got $268,774, while Mr. Baird sold 35,311 shares for a grand total of $224,111.

Other major institutional investors reducing their bets on Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FOLD) are Jeremy Green’s Redmile Group, D. E. Shaw, and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates. Both Redmile Group and Royce & Associates cut down their participation in the company by 10% over the second quarter of the year and now own 7.65 million shares and 283,700 shares, respectively. For its part, D.E. Shaw shrank its exposure by 12%, to 584,582 shares.

Palo Alto Investors is a fund worth following for healthcare picks. Its top picks for the second quarter of 2014, InterMune Inc (NASDAQ:ITMN) and United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ:UTHR), have returned, year-to-date, 401% and 16.3%, respectively, widely outperforming the S&P 500’s 6.1% return.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any stocks or funds mentioned

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