Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:LIFE) has seen an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently.
In today’s marketplace, there are many methods shareholders can use to analyze the equity markets. A duo of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can outperform the market by a superb amount (see just how much).
Just 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 incentives for an upper level exec to sell 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 valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a look at the recent action regarding Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:LIFE).
How are hedge funds trading Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:LIFE)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 32 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 7% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.
Of the funds we track, Paulson & Co, managed by John Paulson, holds the most valuable position in Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:LIFE). Paulson & Co has a $686 million position in the stock, comprising 4.2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital, with a $549 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies that are bullish include Jérôme Pfund and Michael Sjöström’s Sectoral Asset Management, Samuel Isaly’s OrbiMed Advisors and John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments.
Consequently, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. OZ Management, managed by Daniel S. Och, created the largest position in Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:LIFE). OZ Management had 70 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also initiated a $43 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new LIFE positions are Larry Robbins’s Glenview Capital, Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP, and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates.
Insider trading activity in Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:LIFE)
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time frame, Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:LIFE) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns shown by the aforementioned tactics, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:LIFE) applies perfectly to this mantra.
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