AtriCure Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) has experienced an increase in enthusiasm from smart money of late.
In today’s marketplace, there are tons of indicators market participants can use to monitor the equity markets. A couple of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can beat their index-focused peers by a healthy amount (see just how much).
Just as important, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of reasons for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if you understand where to look (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, let’s take a glance at the key action surrounding AtriCure Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC).
How have hedgies been trading AtriCure Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 71% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.
Of the funds we track, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management had the biggest position in AtriCure Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC), worth close to $6.4 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. On Adage Capital Management’s heels is Kevin Kotler of Broadfin Capital, with a $6.3 million position; the fund has 1.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include James E. Flynn’s Deerfield Management, Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners and Nathan Fischel’s DAFNA Capital Management.
As one would reasonably expect, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Deerfield Management, managed by James E. Flynn, created the largest position in AtriCure Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC). Deerfield Management had 5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group also initiated a $1.3 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new ATRC investors: Israel Englander’s Catapult Capital Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
How have insiders been trading AtriCure Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, AtriCure Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to AtriCure Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC). These stocks are Rochester Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:ROCM), Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB), IMRIS Inc – Ord Shs (NASDAQ:IMRS), Derma Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:DSCI), and Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBIO). This group of stocks belong to the medical instruments & supplies industry and their market caps are closest to ATRC’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Rochester Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:ROCM) | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLAB) | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| IMRIS Inc – Ord Shs (NASDAQ:IMRS) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Derma Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:DSCI) | 7 | 1 | 2 |
| Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBIO) | 8 | 0 | 1 |
With the returns shown by our studies, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and AtriCure Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) applies perfectly to this mantra.
