In a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Justin John Ferayorni‘s Tamarack Capital Management reported raising its passive stake in Endologix, Inc. (NASDAQ:ELGX). Tamarack disclosed holding 3.96 million shares of the company, up from 3.30 million shares revealed in its latest 13F filing. Following the increase, Tamarack’s stake represents 5.9% Endologix’s outstanding common stock.
Justin Ferayorni, CFA, is the founder and principal of Tamarack Capital Management and was an analyst and portfolio manager at Bricoleur Capital. Ferayorni previously worked at John Galt Capital, Robertson Stephens & Co. and Atlantic-ACM. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.
Tamarack Capital Management is a fund that focuses mainly on the healthcare sector, which represents around 60% of its equity portfolio. It was founded by Justin Ferayorni, a former analyst and portfolio manager at Bricoleur Capital. Moreover, with a bachelor degree from Princeton, Ferayorni also worked at John Galt Capital, Robertson Stephens & Co., and Atlantic-ACM. Valued at $451 million, the fund’s equity portfolio is diversified and contains stakes in 29 companies, according to its latest 13F filing. Aside from Endologix, Inc. (NASDAQ:ELGX), which was the largest equity holding at the end of September, Tamarack also held around 6.8% of its equity portfolio invested in Spectranetics Corp (NASDAQ:SPNC). As the investor raised its stake during the last two years to 1.15 million shares, the stock of Spectranetics surged by around 140%. Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT) was another top pick of Tamarack at the end of September, the position with 370,000 shares having been initiated during the third quarter, while the stock gained 20% since the end of September.
In Endologix, Inc. (NASDAQ:ELGX) Tamarack Capital Management initiated a stake during the first quarter of 2014. Meanwhile, the stock of the $960 million company slid at the beginning of March and overall fell by 13% over the last year, but since the end of March, it appreciated by around 12%. The investor took advantage of the stock movement and raised the stake by 67% to 2.38 million shares during the second quarter and it raised it further during the July-September period.
Endologix, Inc. (NASDAQ:ELGX) falls in line with healthcare-focused strategy of Tamarack, as the company is engaged in development, production and sale of different products and devices for the treatment of aortic disorders, such as abdominal aortic aneurysms. The stock of the company declined on the back of financial results that came below the estimates, such as revenue of $37.2 million for the third quarter, versus $37.7 million consensus estimate. Moreover, the company reported a net loss of $0.13 per share, while the consensus estimate amounted to -$0.08 per share.
However, despite this, investors like Tamarack consider that the company will turn around and therefore the stock will go up. Aside from Tamarack, another shareholder of Endologix among the funds that we track is James Flynn’s Deerfield Management, which owns around 4.48 million shares. Following a significant boost to its stake in October, Deerfield is the largest shareholder in Endologix, Inc. (NASDAQ:ELGX) among the funds that we track on record and its passive stake represents 6.7% of the company’s common stock. Another investor bullish on the company is Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s Polar Capital, which owns around 1.44 million shares as of the end of September. Overall, the majority of funds that we track have raised their exposure to Endologix during the third quarter, although their holdings represent small shares of their total equity portfolios.
Insiders have also been trading shares of Endologix, Inc. (NASDAQ:ELGX) pretty actively over the last several months. For example, Charles Love, the Vice-President for Clinical Affaris, has bought 2,000 shares in November and disposed of 10,000 shares in December. Following these transactions, the insider holds some 35,000 shares of the company.
Analysts are also optimistic on Endologix, Inc. (NASDAQ:ELGX)’s prospects, since the company has a consensus ‘Buy’ rating and boasts a strong average target price of around $16.70. Earlier this year, BTIG Research downgraded the stock to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ and at the end of 2014, Piper Jaffray raised their price target to $21.00 from $18.00, reiterating ‘Overweight’ rating.
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