In the last few days, we have seen a lot of capital from funds that we track getting shifted to pharmaceutical stocks and no it’s not just sector specific funds, but funds across board. Following that trend are two hedge funds: Roberto Mignone’s Bridger Management and Peter Kolchinsky’s RA Capital Management. Recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from these two funds show that Bridger Management increased its stake in The Medicines Company (NASDAQ:MDCO) to 3.3 million shares from the over 1.8 million shares it held earlier, while Ra Capital Management initiated a stake in TG Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TGTX) by purchasing over 3.14 million shares. Both funds have bought their respective stakes as passive investors. In terms of percentage of stock, Bridger Management now owns 5.1% of The Medicines Company (NASDAQ:MDCO) and RA Capital Management holds 8.3% of TG Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TGTX).
Roberto Mignone launched Bridger Management in 2000, when he was 29 years old. Bridger Management follows a long/short strategy, which is also a reason why Mignone doesn’t want to increase the size of the fund as he feels it will limit the ability to generate returns. The fund currently manages an equity portfolio of over $1.4 billion. Bridger Management initiated its stake in The Medicines Company (NASDAQ:MDCO) in 2000 and as of now is the largest investors in the company among the funds that we track. Apart from The Medicines Company (NASDAQ:MDCO), Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) are two other large holdings of the fund in which it is bullish. It increased its stake in Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 27% to 380,000 shares and in Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 88% to over 657,000 shares, during second quarter.
The Medicines Company (NASDAQ:MDCO) is a $1.45 billion market cap, pharmaceutical company that focuses on the treatment of critical care patients through the delivery of medicines to the global hospital marketplace. Whereas Arthur B Cohen and Joseph Healey’s Healthcor Management Lp increased its stake in the company by 92% to 1.675 million shares during the second quarter, Sean Cullinan’s Point State Capital reduced its exposure by 97% to over 50,000 shares in the same period.
RA Capital Management was founded in 2001 by Peter Kolchinsky straight after graduating from Harvard with a Ph.D. in virology. While he started the fund with just $4 million in assets under management, it now boasts of an equity portfolio of over $1 billion. RA Capital is a healthcare-focused fund and most of its top holdings constitute of pharmaceutical stocks. As of June 30, 2014, its largest holding is Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN), up a whopping 277% since last year, followed by Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:DVAX), which is also up a respectable 20% year on year.
TG Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TGTX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that currently has a market cap of around $380 million. Even though shares of TG Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TGTX) are up by more than 110% in the last one year, there is no dearth of hedge funds who continue to be bullish on the stocks. During second quarter, Julian Baker and Felix Baker’s Baker Bros. Advisors owned over 2.16 million shares and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management owned over 630,000 shares of the company.
Tracking each and every trade by hedge funds can be a tiring, though rewarding, exercise for investors. However, if an investor can’t track all the moves by hedge funds, one can definitely track the broad moves made by hedge funds as a whole. Buying pharmaceutical and life sciences stocks is one such broad move taking place right now.
Disclosure: None
