Is Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB) a sound investment now? Hedge funds are reducing their bets on the stock. The number of long hedge fund bets were cut by 1 in recent months.
In the financial world, there are tons of indicators market participants can use to watch Mr. Market. Some of the most underrated 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 top hedge fund managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a solid margin (see just how much).
Equally as integral, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are many stimuli for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action encompassing Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB).
What have hedge funds been doing with Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB)?
In preparation for this year, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -13% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the largest position in Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB). Royce & Associates has a $9 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $4.3 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Kroch’s GRT Capital Partners, Jay Petschek and Steven Major’s Corsair Capital Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
Since Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB) has witnessed falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few hedge funds that slashed their entire stakes in Q4. At the top of the heap, Richard Schimel’s Diamondback Capital dumped the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, totaling close to $1.9 million in stock., and Israel Englander of Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.1 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds in Q4.
How are insiders trading Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB)?
Insider buying is best served when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB). These stocks are Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation (NASDAQ:NYMX), Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ:SNTA), AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAG), Accelerate Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:AXDX), and SurModics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRDX). This group of stocks belong to the diagnostic substances industry and their market caps match TRIB’s market cap.
