Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (PTX): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX) has seen an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late.

In the financial world, there are plenty of gauges market participants can use to track their holdings. A couple of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outperform the market by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Just as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of stimuli for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if you know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action regarding Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX).

Hedge fund activity in Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX)

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 25% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.

Of the funds we track, OrbiMed Advisors, managed by Samuel Isaly, holds the biggest position in Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX). OrbiMed Advisors has a $13 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Sageview Capital, managed by Edward Gilhuly and Scott Stuart, which held a $11 million position; 3.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, James E. Flynn’s Deerfield Management and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

As one would reasonably expect, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Deerfield Management, managed by James E. Flynn, assembled the biggest position in Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX). Deerfield Management had 1.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.

How are insiders trading Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX). These stocks are MEI Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:MEIP), DURECT Corporation (NASDAQ:DRRX), SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCLN), POZEN Inc. (NASDAQ:POZN), and DUSA Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:DUSA). This group of stocks are in the drug manufacturers – other industry and their market caps resemble PTX’s market cap.