This Metric Says You Are Smart to Buy Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (TRIB)

Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB) investors should be aware of an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently.

If you’d ask most market participants, hedge funds are seen as slow, outdated investment vehicles of years past. While there are over 8000 funds trading at the moment, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the masters of this club, around 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group oversees the lion’s share of the smart money’s total asset base, and by watching their best picks, we have deciphered a few investment strategies that have historically outperformed the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have trumped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Equally as key, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. There are many stimuli for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a look at the recent action regarding Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB).

What does the smart money think about Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 25% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.

Of the funds we track, Richard S. Meisenberg’s ACK Asset Management had the biggest position in Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB), worth close to $10.3 million, accounting for 4.5% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Park West Asset Management, managed by Peter S. Park, which held a $7.2 million position; the fund has 0.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Krochuk’s GRT Capital Partners.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. ACK Asset Management, managed by Richard S. Meisenberg, established the largest position in Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB). ACK Asset Management had 10.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also initiated a $0.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Mike Vranos’s Ellington and Amy Minella’s Cardinal Capital.

How are insiders trading Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time period, Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results shown by Insider Monkey’s tactics, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB) is an important part of this process.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds