Maxygen, Inc. (MAXY): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Maxygen, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAXY) was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. MAXY investors should pay attention to a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with MAXY positions at the end of the previous quarter.

In today’s marketplace, there are many indicators market participants can use to track their holdings. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of motivations for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action surrounding Maxygen, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAXY).

Hedge fund activity in Maxygen, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAXY)

At Q1’s end, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -14% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the biggest position in Maxygen, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAXY). Renaissance Technologies has a $2.2 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $1.5 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Judging by the fact that Maxygen, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAXY) has faced a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there is a sect of fund managers that decided to sell off their entire stakes at the end of the first quarter. Intriguingly, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management said goodbye to the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, valued at about $0 million in stock. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds at the end of the first quarter.

What have insiders been doing with Maxygen, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAXY)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Maxygen, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAXY) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Maxygen, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAXY) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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