Shares of OHR Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP) have been on a torrid run of late, with their 25% gain today pushing their rise over the past month to 67%. Other than a brief spike in July, shares had been relatively moribund up until this past month following their collapse of more than 65% in March. That followed the news that the firm’s OHR-102 Squalamine eye drops for macular degeneration failed to meet its primary goal in a phase 3 trial. Nonetheless, with seemingly little of note in its pipeline other than more Squalamine (which it bought for next to nothing) trials for other eye conditions, shares are staging another big push. Are investors getting set up for a big disappointment again? Let’s see how the elite investors in our database, some of whom are healthcare-focused and have immense knowledge in the field, have been trading this stock of late and what it says about the sustainability of this rally.
OHR Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money recently, with the number of shareholders of the stock in Insider Monkey’s database declining to 6. At the end of this article we will also compare OHR Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP) to other stocks with similar market capitalizations including Demand Media Inc (NYSE:DMD), Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd (NASDAQ:GLMD), and Caladrius Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CLBS) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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At the moment there are a large number of tools market participants can use to appraise their holdings. A duo of the less known tools are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can beat their index-focused peers by a solid amount (see the details here).
With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the new action encompassing OHR Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP).
What have hedge funds been doing with OHR Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP)?
At Q3’s end, a total of 6 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a 40% drop from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Baker Bros. Advisors, managed by Julian Baker and Felix Baker, holds the most valuable position in OHR Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP). Baker Bros. Advisors has a $1 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second-largest stake is held by Fred Knoll of Knoll Capital Management, with a $0.6 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining professional money managers that hold long positions include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Paul Cantor, Joseph Weiss, and Will Wurm’s Beech Hill Partners, and Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management.
Judging by the fact that OHR Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP) has witnessed a declination in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there exists a select few money managers that elected to cut their entire stakes in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Kevin Kotler’s Broadfin Capital sold off the biggest stake of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $4.5 million in stock. Hal Mintz’s fund, Sabby Capital, also dumped its stock, about $0.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 4 funds in the third quarter.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to OHR Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP). These stocks are Demand Media Inc (NYSE:DMD), Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd (NASDAQ:GLMD), Caladrius Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CLBS), and Dawson Geophysical Company (NASDAQ:DWSN). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to OHRP’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMD | 10 | 16880 | -2 |
| GLMD | 6 | 4855 | -1 |
| CLBS | 5 | 5111 | -5 |
| DWSN | 7 | 15979 | -1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 7 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $11 million. That figure was $2 million in OHR Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP)’s case. Demand Media Inc (NYSE:DMD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Caladrius Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CLBS) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. OHR Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are showing confidence in. Given that it’s already crashed once this year and it’s pipeline doesn’t look any stronger, we believe there are better options in the micro-cap biopharma space.
