Masimo Corporation (MASI): Insiders Are Dumping, Should You?: Wright Medical Group Inc (WMGI), CONMED Corporation (CNMD)

Is Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ:MASI) a bargain? Money managers are in a pessimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund positions were trimmed by 2 lately.

In the financial world, there are many gauges investors can use to analyze Mr. Market. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as integral, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of incentives for an insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a gander at the latest action regarding Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ:MASI).

What does the smart money think about Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ:MASI)?

At year’s end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -18% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.

Of the funds we track, Broadfin Capital, managed by Kevin Kotler, holds the largest position in Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ:MASI). Broadfin Capital has a $5 million position in the stock, comprising 1.3% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $5 million position; the fund has 0% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies that are bullish include Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

Due to the fact that Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ:MASI) has witnessed declining sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there was a specific group of funds that slashed their entire stakes last quarter. Interestingly, Sean Cullinan’s Point State Capital cut the biggest position of all the hedgies we monitor, totaling an estimated $7 million in stock.. Samuel Isaly’s fund, OrbiMed Advisors, also dropped its stock, about $6 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds last quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ:MASI)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ:MASI) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, 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 Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ:MASI). These stocks are Wright Medical Group Inc (NASDAQ:WMGI), CONMED Corporation (NASDAQ:CNMD), ArthroCare Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTC), Cyberonics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CYBX), and Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ:VOLC). This group of stocks are the members of the medical appliances & equipment industry and their market caps resemble MASI’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ:MASI) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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