Hedge Funds Hated These Healthcare Stocks in Q1

3. Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX)

 – Investors with Long Positions (as of March 31): 22

 – Aggregate Value of Investors’ Holdings (as of March 31): $548.26 Million

Let’s move on to Pacira Pharmaceuticals, the $1.77 billion specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of medicines to help treat acute hospital care patients. The company has seen its stock price plummet by more than 40% so far this year, which has done nothing to help its popularity, which dropped by 17% during the first quarter in terms of the shareholders in our database long the stock. Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX)’s Exparel, an injectable treatment designed to relieve pain after surgery, represented about 97% of the company’s top-line for the March quarter. However, sales growth for the drug showed considerable contraction and dimmed investors’ hopes of seeing 2016 growth close to the 27% growth that it registered in 2015. Alex Lieblong‘s Key Colony Management slashed its Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX) holding by 25% to 301,000 shares during the first quarter.

2. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA)

 – Investors with Long Positions (as of March 31): 70

 – Aggregate Value of Investors’ Holdings (as of March 31): $733.75 Million

The number of professional money managers backing Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA) fell by 13% during the March quarter, while the stock price cratered by about 18.5%. Andreas Halvorsen‘s Viking Global, however, stood its ground and then some, hiking its stake in the company by 32% to 32.97 million shares during the period. Following asset sales amounting to nearly $2 billion to earn U.S antitrust clearance, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA) is now expecting its $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan’s generic drug portfolio to be completed by June.

1. Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX)

 – Investors with Long Positions (as of March 31): 71

 – Aggregate Value of Investors’ Holdings (as of March 31): $314.58 Million

The popularity of the Canada-based specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company, which is in the midst of recovery from accounting scandals and unsustainable levels of debt, dropped by 14.5% during the first quarter. Nonetheless, the overall level of interest among the professional investors tracked by Insider Monkey remains high, which indicates they believe the situation at Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) will soon improve. The stock did receive a boost recently when Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX)’s new CEO Joseph Papa rejected a combined buyout offer from Takeda and TPG, according to The Wall Street Journal. Ahmet Okumus’ namesake firm Okumus Fund Management, nearly doubled its stake in Valeant during the first quarter, to 3.72 million shares.

Disclosure: None