It seems that the masses and most of the financial media hate hedge funds and what they do, but why is this hatred of hedge funds so prominent? At the end of the day, these asset management firms do not gamble the hard-earned money of the people who are on the edge of poverty. Truth be told, most hedge fund managers and other smaller players within this industry are very smart and skilled investors. Of course, they may also make wrong bets in some instances, but no one knows what the future holds and how market participants will react to the bountiful news that floods in each day. The S&P 500 Index gained 7.6% in the 12 month-period that ended November 21, while less than 49% of its stocks beat the benchmark. In contrast, the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks among the top hedge fund investors tracked by the Insider Monkey team returned 18% over the same period, which provides evidence that these money managers do have great stock picking abilities. That’s why we believe it isn’t a waste of time to check out hedge fund sentiment before you invest in a stock like Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC – ADR (NASDAQ:ADAP) .
Is Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC – ADR (NASDAQ:ADAP) a worthy investment right now? Prominent investors are altogether reducing their bets on the stock. The number of long hedge fund positions dropped by 2 lately. There were 14 hedge funds in our database with ADAP 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 Daqo New Energy Corp (NYSE:DQ), New Home Company Inc (NYSE:NWHM), and Great Panther Silver Ltd (USA) (NYSEAMEX:GPL) to gather more data points.
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Now, we’re going to view the fresh action encompassing Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC – ADR (NASDAQ:ADAP).
What have hedge funds been doing with Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC – ADR (NASDAQ:ADP)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 12 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -14% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards ADAP over the last 5 quarters. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management holds the biggest position in Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC – ADR (NASDAQ:ADP). Adage Capital Management has a $8.2 million position in the stock. The second most bullish fund manager is Samuel Isaly of OrbiMed Advisors which holds a $5.1 million position. Other members of the smart money that hold long positions contain Daniel Gold’s QVT Financial, Kris Jenner, Gordon Bussard, Graham McPhail’s Rock Springs Capital Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management which is one of the 10 largest hedge funds in the world. We should note that none of these hedge funds are among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-microcap stocks.
Seeing as Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC – ADR (NASDAQ:ADP) has experienced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of money managers that elected to cut their positions entirely last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that James A. Silverman’s Opaleye Management cashed in the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds watched by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $0.3 million in stock, and Nathan Fischel’s DAFNA Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.2 million worth of shares.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC – ADR (NASDAQ:ADP). We will take a look at Daqo New Energy Corp (NYSE:DQ), New Home Company Inc (NYSE:NWHM), Great Panther Silver Ltd (USA) (NYSEAMEX:GPL), and Destination XL Group Inc (NASDAQ:DXLG). This group of stocks’ market values match ADAP’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| DQ | 6 | 27543 | 2 |
| NWHM | 5 | 27999 | 0 |
| GPL | 7 | 4377 | 7 |
| DXLG | 9 | 88905 | -1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 7 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $37 million. That figure was $33 million in ADAP’s case. Destination XL Group Inc (NASDAQ:DXLG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand New Home Company Inc (NYSE:NWHM) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC – ADR (NASDAQ:ADP) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.
Disclosure: None
