BIOLASE Inc (BIOL) Shareholders: Have You Seen This Crucial Data?

BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ:BIOL) was in 4 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. BIOL shareholders have witnessed a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months. There were 5 hedge funds in our database with BIOL positions at the end of the previous quarter.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are dozens of methods investors can use to monitor their holdings. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. There are a variety of incentives for an insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a glance at the key action surrounding BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ:BIOL).

How have hedgies been trading BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ:BIOL)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 4 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -20% from the third quarter.

Because BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ:BIOL) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there were a few fund managers who were dropping their entire stakes last quarter. Intriguingly, Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners cut the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, comprising close to $0.1 million in stock. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 fund last quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ:BIOL)?

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time period, BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ:BIOL) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ:BIOL). These stocks are LeMaitre Vascular Inc (NASDAQ:LMAT), AtriCure Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC), Derma Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:DSCI), IMRIS Inc – Ord Shs (NASDAQ:IMRS), and Nanosphere, Inc. (NASDAQ:NSPH). This group of stocks are the members of the medical instruments & supplies industry and their market caps are similar to BIOL’s market cap.