Synergy Rallies 18% Following News of Paulson & Co. Stake

Shares of Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc SGYP rallied over 18 percent following the market open Monday.

Synergy is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of drugs to treat gastrointestinal disorders and diseases.

The stock rallied over 13 percent to $4.00 in the premarket before opening even higher in the regular trading session following news of John Paulson's hedge fund, Paulson & Co., taking a position in the company as its fifth-largest shareholder.

Paulson & Co. disclosed a 2.1 percent stake in Synergy, holding 2.095 million shares as of March 31, in its 13F filed on Friday. Form 13F is required to be filed with the SEC within 45 days of the end of a calendar quarter.

As of early Monday, the stake would be valued at approximately $8.3 million. Overall, the size of the investment was relatively small for Paulson. According to the firm, Paulson & Co. managed $19.3 billion as of March 1, 2015.

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Paulson also disclosed in the 13F filing his firm’s positions in other healthcare stocks, including Shire PLC (ADR) SHPG, Actavis plc ACT and Covidien plc COV.

Over the past 12 months, Synergy rose 9.7 percent while it traded in a range between approximately $4.50 and $2.57.

Synergy pulled back somewhat following Monday’s open and recently traded at $4.01, up 13.92 percent.