Should You Buy Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (PTIE)?: Cytokinetics, Inc. (CYTK), ArQule, Inc. (ARQL)

Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE) has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest of late.

In today’s marketplace, there are a multitude of gauges investors can use to track their holdings. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of incentives for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a peek at the key action encompassing Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE).

What have hedge funds been doing with Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 10% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management had the most valuable position in Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE), worth close to $12 million, comprising 0.4% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Steven Owsley of Madison Street Partners, with a $5 million position; 0% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Howard Guberman’s Gruss Asset Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management.

As industrywide interest jumped, some big names have jumped into Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE) headfirst. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, created the largest position in Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE). Citadel Investment Group had 0 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also made a $0 million investment in the stock during the quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time frame, Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE). These stocks are Cytokinetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CYTK), ArQule, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQL), ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:ZIOP), BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. (NASDAQ:BDSI), and Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FOLD). This group of stocks belong to the biotechnology industry and their market caps match PTIE’s market cap.

With the returns exhibited by our strategies, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE) is no exception.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds