What Hedge Funds Think About VIVUS, Inc. (VVUS)

Are you curious what the richest investors think about VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS)?

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are dozens of metrics investors can use to track Mr. Market. A couple of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are plenty of stimuli for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if you know what to do (learn more here).

Furthermore, let’s examine the newest info surrounding VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS).

How are hedge funds trading VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 26 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 24% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.

According to our 13F database, John Burbank’s Passport Capital had the largest position in VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS), worth close to $107 million, accounting for 3.5% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Daniel Gold of QVT Financial, with a $105 million position; 7.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies that are bullish include Robert Pohly’s Samlyn Capital, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Richard Chilton’s Chilton Investment Company.

Now, specific money managers have jumped into VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) headfirst. Passport Capital, managed by John Burbank, initiated the most outsized position in VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS). Passport Capital had 107 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Daniel Gold’s QVT Financial also made a $105 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new VVUS positions are Robert Pohly’s Samlyn Capital, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Richard Chilton’s Chilton Investment Company.

What have insiders been doing with VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) has seen 2 unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS). These stocks are MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD), PDL BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ:PDLI), Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT), Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:LXRX), and Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNTS). This group of stocks are in the biotechnology industry and their market caps are closest to VVUS’s market cap.