Last year we predicted the arrival of the first US recession since 2009 and we told in advance that the market will decline by at least 20% in (Recession is Imminent: We Need A Travel Ban NOW). In these volatile markets we scrutinize hedge fund filings to get a reading on which direction each stock might be going. In this article, we will take a closer look at hedge fund sentiment towards BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ:BVXV).
BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ:BVXV) was in 3 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. The all time high for this statistic was previously 1. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. BVXV investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund sentiment recently. There were 1 hedge funds in our database with BVXV positions at the end of the fourth quarter. Our calculations also showed that BVXV isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings).
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s monthly stock picks returned 206.8% since March 2017 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 115 percentage points (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Cathie Wood of ARK Investment Management
At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, an activist hedge fund wants to buy this $28 biotech stock for $50. So, we recommended a long position to our monthly premium newsletter subscribers. We go through lists like the 10 best battery stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. You can subscribe to our free daily newsletter on our homepage. Keeping this in mind let’s analyze the recent hedge fund action encompassing BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ:BVXV).
Do Hedge Funds Think BVXV Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?
At first quarter’s end, a total of 3 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 200% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards BVXV over the last 23 quarters. So, let’s find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
More specifically, Citadel Investment Group was the largest shareholder of BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ:BVXV), with a stake worth $0.1 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Citadel Investment Group was Two Sigma Advisors, which amassed a stake valued at $0 million. ARK Investment Management was also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Two Sigma Advisors allocated the biggest weight to BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ:BVXV), around 0.0001% of its 13F portfolio. ARK Investment Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 0.0001 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to BVXV.
Consequently, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, assembled the most outsized position in BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ:BVXV). Citadel Investment Group had $0.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors also initiated a $0 million position during the quarter.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ:BVXV). These stocks are Trevi Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRVI), CPI Aerostructures, Inc. (NYSE:CVU), Sonim Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:SONM), Washington Prime Group Inc. (NYSE:WPG), Sunlands Technology Group (NYSE:STG), Applied DNA Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:APDN), and Akers Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:AKER). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to BVXV’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| TRVI | 2 | 359 | 1 |
| CVU | 3 | 4828 | 1 |
| SONM | 5 | 4438 | -1 |
| WPG | 6 | 724 | -4 |
| STG | 2 | 170 | 1 |
| APDN | 1 | 535 | 1 |
| AKER | 3 | 372 | 2 |
| Average | 3.1 | 1632 | 0.1 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 3.1 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2 million. That figure was $0 million in BVXV’s case. Washington Prime Group Inc. (NYSE:WPG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Applied DNA Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:APDN) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ:BVXV) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for BVXV is 57. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 17.2% in 2021 through June 11th and surpassed the market again by 3.3 percentage points. Unfortunately BVXV wasn’t nearly as popular as these 5 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); BVXV investors were disappointed as the stock returned -15.8% since the end of March (through 6/11) and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds as most of these stocks already outperformed the market in 2021.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.