Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Clovis Oncology Inc (CLVS)?

Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. CLVS has seen an increase in hedge fund interest of late. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with CLVS holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

To the average investor, there are dozens of gauges investors can use to monitor their holdings. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can beat the market by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are many incentives for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a gander at the latest action regarding Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS).

How are hedge funds trading Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 38% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Baker Bros. Advisors, managed by Julian Baker and Felix Baker, holds the biggest position in Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS). Baker Bros. Advisors has a $28.7 million position in the stock, comprising 0.6% of its 13F portfolio. On Baker Bros. Advisors’s heels is QVT Financial, managed by Daniel Gold, which held a $18.2 million position; the fund has 1.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include Jeremy Green’s Redmile Group, Christopher Medlock James’s Partner Fund Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have jumped into Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) headfirst. Deerfield Management, managed by James E. Flynn, created the largest position in Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS). Deerfield Management had 3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management also made a $1.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new CLVS investors: Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

Insider trading activity in Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS)

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS). These stocks are Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN), TESARO Inc (NASDAQ:TSRO), InterMune Inc (NASDAQ:ITMN), Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ:DNDN), and China Biologic Products Inc (NASDAQ:CBPO). This group of stocks are in the biotechnology industry and their market caps resemble CLVS’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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