Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Opko Health Inc. (OPK) Anymore

Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) investors should pay attention to a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months.

In today’s marketplace, there are plenty of gauges investors can use to monitor the equity markets. A pair of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. There are a number of stimuli for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a look at the latest action surrounding Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK).

What does the smart money think about Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -30% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Kingdon Capital, managed by Mark Kingdon, holds the most valuable position in Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK). Kingdon Capital has a $2.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Highfields Capital Management, managed by Jonathon Jacobson, which held a $2.3 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

Because Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) has experienced declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there were a few hedgies that elected to cut their positions entirely heading into Q2. Intriguingly, Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners said goodbye to the biggest stake of all the hedgies we watch, totaling close to $5.6 million in stock., and Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Krochuk of GRT Capital Partners was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $1.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds heading into Q2.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) has seen 4 unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK). These stocks are Sirona Dental Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRO), Mine Safety Appliances (NYSE:MSA), Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN), STERIS Corp (NYSE:STE), and Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH). This group of stocks are in the medical appliances & equipment industry and their market caps match OPK’s market cap.