Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN) investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund interest lately.
To the average investor, there are a multitude of methods market participants can use to watch Mr. Market. Some of the most innovative 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 hedge fund managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).
Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of incentives for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if investors understand what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action encompassing Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN).
Hedge fund activity in Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN)
In preparation for this year, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 40% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, Platinum Asset Management, managed by Kerr Neilson, holds the largest position in Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN). Platinum Asset Management has a $42.8 million position in the stock, comprising 1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Columbus Circle Investors, managed by Donald Chiboucis, which held a $19.3 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds with similar optimism include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.
Consequently, some big names have been driving this bullishness. GLG Partners, managed by Noam Gottesman, initiated the largest position in Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN). GLG Partners had 2.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also initiated a $1.5 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new QGEN position is Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management.
How are insiders trading Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Qiagen NV (NASDAQ:QGEN). These stocks are National Technical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTSC), National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRCI), Forrester Research, Inc. (NASDAQ:FORR), Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTG), and Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MYGN). This group of stocks are the members of the research services industry and their market caps are closest to QGEN’s market cap.
