Monday was the deadline for investment managers filing their 13F disclosure forms detailing their U.S. equity-related holdings for the quarter ended March 31. Here is a rundown of some of the more interesting disclosures by hedge funds.
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Baupost Group boosted its stake in U.S. equities by 25 percent, to $6.9 billion, as of the end of the first quarter. This is the largest U.S. equity position the Boston-based investor has ever held. It also accounts for nearly 25 percent of the firm’s $28.5 billion in assets as of year-end. Baupost, founded by Seth Klarman, is an eclectic investor that also may invest in mortgage securities, debt, and private companies. In the first quarter, Baupost boosted its stake in EMC Corp. by 77 percent, making the computer storage giant its largest U.S. stock holding. Baupost also established a new position of more than 1.7 million shares in drug giant Allergan, making it the firm’s fifth-largest U.S. stock holding. It also cleared out six positions, the largest being Frontier Communications.
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Shares of Apple jumped 3.7 percent, to $93.88, after investors got excited about some other, more high-profile investors who disclosed having established new positions in the maker of the iPhone and iPad in the first quarter. They include Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which bought 9.8 million shares, and Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors. However, the latter only bought 227,000 shares, good enough to only rank number 40 in its portfolio. CNBC reported that Omega has since sold its entire position. Big deal!
Even more interesting, however, are the sellers of the stock in the first quarter. They include Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management, which liquidated its entire stake of more than 6.8 million shares in the first quarter after boosting its position in the fourth quarter of last year by about 75 percent, accounting for more than 7 percent of its portfolio. Appaloosa Management sold its entire stake of 1.26 million shares in the first quarter. Other firms that liquidated their holding include Renaissance Technologies and Tiger Management. Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management, meanwhile, nearly halved its stake, unloading nearly five million shares after establishing a 10-million share position the previous three-month period.
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Viking Global Investors took a new stake of more than 20 million shares in Facebook. As a result, the social media giant is now the largest U.S. long holding of the Greenwich, Connecticut hedge fund firm. Another Tiger Cub, Discovery Capital Management, took an initial stake of more than 1.7 million Facebook shares, making it the South Norwalk, Connecticut firm’s fifth-largest individual U.S. long position, excluding options. Meanwhile, Chicago-based Citadel nearly doubled its stake, making Facebook the firm’s largest U.S. long, excluding options.
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New York-based Tourbillon Capital bought more than 3.4 million shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International in the first quarter. It also bought a sizable position in call options on the stock as well as put options. The embattled drug maker is now the hedge fund firm’s 14th largest individual stock holding, excluding the options. David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management bought 945,000 shares, but this is not a significant holding for the Miami Beach, Florida hedge fund firm.
On the other hand, Brahman Capital sold its entire stake of roughly 8.1 million shares, which we reported earlier. In addition, Coatue liquidated its entire stake of nearly 1.7 million shares, while Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners sold all of its nearly 1.6 million shares.
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Jana also made a few interesting purchases in the first quarter that are not typical of the New York activist firm. It established new stakes in separate exchange traded funds that track the price of gold and silver. It also took a large position in Google, making it the hedge fund firm’s fourth-largest individual U.S. stock holding. It also established a new position in Stericylce, which provides medical and pharmaceutical waste management. The stock is now Jana’s seventh largest U.S. long position. Were there any possible future activist targets tucked away in the filing? Doubtful. Keep in mind that Jana, along with most other activists, has been doing a good job of not telegraphing future targets in their regulatory filings.
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Bridgewater Associates essentially left its top three U.S. stock holdings intact in the first quarter. This means three exchange-traded funds roughly remain about 77 percent of the firm’s $7.9 billion in U.S. stock assets. The three funds in order of position size are: a Vanguard fund that tracks the performance of emerging markets stocks, the SPDR that tracks the S&P 500 and an iShares fund that tracks the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Altogether, the firm manages $150 billion, which includes hedge fund and non-hedge fund assets.
