Our extensive research has shown that imitating the smart money can generate significant returns for retail investors, which is why we track more than 700 prominent money managers and analyze their quarterly 13F filings. The stocks that are heavily bought by hedge funds historically outperformed the market, though there is no shortage of high profile gigantic failures like hedge funds’ recent losses in Valeant. Let’s take a closer look at what the funds we track think about Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) in this article.
Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) has experienced a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately. ASND was in 13 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 19 hedge funds in our database with ASND holdings at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity, but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Tredegar Corporation (NYSE:TG), Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ:MGI), and Crestwood Equity Partners LP (NYSE:CEQP) to gather more data points.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit there are several indicators investors use to appraise their stock investments. A duo of the most underrated indicators are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best investment managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see the details here).
Now, we’re going to review the recent action surrounding Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND).
What does the smart money think about Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND)?
Heading into Q4, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a drop of 32% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, RA Capital Management, managed by Peter Kolchinsky, holds the number one position in Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND). The fund has a $25.9 million position in the stock, comprising 3.7% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Visium Asset Management, managed by Jacob Gottlieb, which holds a $24.2 million stake; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers with similar optimism contain Anders Hove and Bong Koh’s VHCP Management, Julian Baker and Felix Baker’s Baker Bros. Advisors and Kris Jenner, Gordon Bussard, Graham McPhail’s Rock Springs Capital Management.
Seeing as Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) has experienced a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers who were dropping their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. Intriguingly, Jeffrey Jay and David Kroin’s Great Point Partners dropped the biggest position of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, valued at about $5.5 million in stock, and Hal Mintz’s Sabby Capital was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $2.8 million worth of shares. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 6 funds by the end of the third quarter.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND). We will take a look at Tredegar Corporation (NYSE:TG), Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ:MGI), Crestwood Equity Partners LP (NYSE:CEQP), and pdvWireless Inc (NASDAQ:PDVW). This group of stocks’ market values match ASND’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| TG | 7 | 64292 | -2 |
| MGI | 13 | 81088 | 2 |
| CEQP | 6 | 991 | 0 |
| PDVW | 7 | 189823 | -4 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 8 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $84 million. That figure was $91 million in ASND’s case, which we take as a good sign. Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ:MGI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Crestwood Equity Partners LP (NYSE:CEQP) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) is on par with MGI and we would recommend further research into both stocks to find out if they are viable candidates for a long position.
