Is CLDX Stock A Buy or Sell?

In this article we will take a look at whether hedge funds think Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX) is a good investment right now. We check hedge fund and billionaire investor sentiment before delving into hours of research. Hedge funds spend millions of dollars on Ivy League graduates, unconventional data sources, expert networks, and get tips from investment bankers and industry insiders. Sure they sometimes fail miserably, but their consensus stock picks historically outperformed the market after adjusting for known risk factors.

Is CLDX stock a buy? Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX) investors should be aware of an increase in enthusiasm from smart money lately. Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX) was in 25 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of December. The all time high for this statistic is 23. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. There were 23 hedge funds in our database with CLDX positions at the end of the third quarter. Our calculations also showed that CLDX isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q4 rankings).

In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s monthly stock picks returned 197% since March 2017 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 124 percentage points. Our short strategy outperformed the S&P 500 short ETFs by 20 percentage points annually (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.

Phillip Gross of Adage Capital

At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, the CBD market is growing at a 33% annualized rate, so we are taking a closer look at this under-the-radar hemp stock. We go through lists like the 10 best biotech stocks under $10 to identify the next stock with 10x upside potential. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. You can subscribe to our free daily newsletter on our website. Now let’s check out the new hedge fund action surrounding Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX).

Do Hedge Funds Think CLDX Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 25 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 9% from the third quarter of 2020. On the other hand, there were a total of 4 hedge funds with a bullish position in CLDX a year ago. So, let’s examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.

Among these funds, Redmile Group held the most valuable stake in Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX), which was worth $47.5 million at the end of the fourth quarter. On the second spot was Adage Capital Management which amassed $43.8 million worth of shares. Acuta Capital Partners, Citadel Investment Group, and Ikarian Capital were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Acuta Capital Partners allocated the biggest weight to Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX), around 7.76% of its 13F portfolio. Octagon Capital Advisors is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 6.32 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to CLDX.

As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Octagon Capital Advisors, managed by Ting Jia, established the biggest position in Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX). Octagon Capital Advisors had $18.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Egen Atkinson and Michael Kramarz’s Commodore Capital also initiated a $6.2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new CLDX positions are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Michael Gelband’s ExodusPoint Capital, and Guy Shahar’s DSAM Partners.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Collegium Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:COLL), HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM), Cowen Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN), Triumph Group Inc (NYSE:TGI), Eros STX Global Corporation (NYSE:ESGC), Vapotherm, Inc. (NYSE:VAPO), and Watford Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:WTRE). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to CLDX’s market value.

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As you can see these stocks had an average of 16.3 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $125 million. That figure was $308 million in CLDX’s case. Cowen Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Eros STX Global Corporation (NYSE:ESGC) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for CLDX is 87. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 81.2% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 26 percentage points. These stocks gained 12.3% in 2021 through April 19th and still beat the market by 0.9 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on CLDX as the stock returned 37.8% since the end of Q4 (through 4/19) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.

Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.