With the first-quarter round of 13F filings behind us it is time to take a look at the stocks in which some of the best money managers in the world preferred to invest or sell heading into the second quarter. One of these stocks was Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK).
Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK) was in 16 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of June. ANIK investors should be aware of an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late. There were 15 hedge funds in our database with ANIK positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that ANIK isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (see the video below).
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
In the eyes of most traders, hedge funds are viewed as worthless, outdated investment vehicles of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds in operation today, Our researchers look at the elite of this club, around 750 funds. These investment experts preside over the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by tracking their best investments, Insider Monkey has discovered a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey’s flagship hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points per annum since its inception in May 2014. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 25.7% since February 2017 (through September 30th) even though the market was up more than 33% during the same period. We just shared a list of 10 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
In addition to following the biggest hedge funds for investment ideas, we also share stock pitches from conferences, investor letters and other sources like this one where the fund manager is talking about two under the radar 1000% return potential stocks: first one in internet infrastructure and the second in the heart of advertising market. We use hedge fund buy/sell signals to determine whether to conduct in-depth analysis of these stock ideas which take days. Let’s analyze the new hedge fund action regarding Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK).
What have hedge funds been doing with Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK)?
At Q2’s end, a total of 16 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 7% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards ANIK over the last 16 quarters. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
The largest stake in Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK) was held by Renaissance Technologies, which reported holding $18 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by D E Shaw with a $16.8 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Millennium Management, Two Sigma Advisors, and Citadel Investment Group.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key money managers have jumped into Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK) headfirst. Magnetar Capital, managed by Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser, created the biggest position in Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK). Magnetar Capital had $0.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management also made a $0.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new ANIK positions are David Harding’s Winton Capital Management and Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK). We will take a look at X Financial (NYSE:XYF), Conn’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:CONN), RISE Education Cayman Ltd (NASDAQ:REDU), and Bank of Marin Bancorp (NASDAQ:BMRC). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to ANIK’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| XYF | 3 | 2337 | 1 |
| CONN | 21 | 95997 | 5 |
| REDU | 6 | 6310 | 3 |
| BMRC | 5 | 18128 | -2 |
| Average | 8.75 | 30693 | 1.75 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 8.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $31 million. That figure was $71 million in ANIK’s case. Conn’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:CONN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand X Financial (NYSE:XYF) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 24.4% in 2019 through September 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 4 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on ANIK as the stock returned 35.1% during the third quarter and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
