Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (OREX): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX) investors should pay attention to an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months.

To the average investor, there are plenty of methods shareholders can use to monitor their holdings. A pair of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best money managers can trounce the broader indices by a significant margin (see just how much).

Just as key, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are a number of incentives for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if piggybackers understand what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action encompassing Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX).

How have hedgies been trading Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 23 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 35% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Christopher Medlock James’s Partner Fund Management had the biggest position in Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX), worth close to $14.3 million, accounting for 0.5% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Visium Asset Management, managed by Jacob Gottlieb, which held a $12.5 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Jeremy Green’s Redmile Group, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management and Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors.

As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Farallon Capital initiated the largest position in Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX). Farallon Capital had 5.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. James H. Litinsky’s JHL Capital Group also made a $4.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new OREX investors: Sanford J. Colen’s Apex Capital, Charles Davidson’s Wexford Capital, and J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management.

What have insiders been doing with Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned strategies, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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