What do hedge funds think about Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX)?
At the moment, there are tons of gauges investors can use to track Mr. Market. A duo 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 best picks of the best hedge fund managers can trounce the market by a superb amount (see just how much).
Just as key, bullish insider trading activity is another way to look at the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are many incentives for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).
What’s more, let’s discuss the newest info surrounding Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX).
What have hedge funds been doing with Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 55 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 49% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.
Out of the hedge funds we follow, ValueAct Capital, managed by Jeffrey Ubben, holds the biggest position in Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX). ValueAct Capital has a $1.629 billion position in the stock, comprising 16.7% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Viking Global, managed by Andreas Halvorsen, which held a $817.1 million position; the fund has 4.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, Glenn Greenberg’s Brave Warrior Capital and William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management.
With a general bullishness amongst the titans, certain bigger names were breaking ground themselves. ValueAct Capital, managed by Jeffrey Ubben, established the biggest position in Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX). ValueAct Capital had 1.629 billion invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global also made a $817.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new VRX positions are Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, Glenn Greenberg’s Brave Warrior Capital, and William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX)?
Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) has experienced 4 unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX). These stocks are Delcath Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCTH), Petmed Express Inc (NASDAQ:PETS), Alkermes Plc (NASDAQ:ALKS), Hospira, Inc. (NYSE:HSP), and Elan Corporation, plc (ADR) (NYSE:ELN). This group of stocks belong to the drug delivery industry and their market caps are similar to VRX’s market cap.