Omnicell, Inc. (OMCL): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

Omnicell, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMCL) investors should be aware of a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently.

To the average investor, there are many indicators shareholders can use to watch the equity markets. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can beat the market by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as key, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of stimuli for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if you understand what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the recent action regarding Omnicell, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMCL).

How have hedgies been trading Omnicell, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMCL)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -30% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.

Of the funds we track, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the largest position in Omnicell, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMCL). Citadel Investment Group has a $1.8 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. On Citadel Investment Group’s heels is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $1.1 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Seeing as Omnicell, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMCL) has faced declining sentiment from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of funds that elected to cut their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw sold off the biggest investment of all the hedgies we watch, comprising close to $0.6 million in stock., and Mike Vranos of Ellington was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $0.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds last quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Omnicell, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMCL)?

Insider buying is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, Omnicell, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMCL) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 11 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Omnicell, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMCL). These stocks are Concurrent Computer Corp (NASDAQ:CCUR), RadiSys Corporation (NASDAQ:RSYS), Lexmark International Inc (NYSE:LXK), and Ruckus Wireless Inc (NYSE:RKUS). This group of stocks are in the computer based systems industry and their market caps resemble OMCL’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by our tactics, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Omnicell, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMCL) is an important part of this process.

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