Top Funds' Activity in Q4 2019
Warren Buffett bought shares of Kroger (KR) and Biogen (BIIB) in the fourth quarter, but the investing legend further pared his Apple (AAPL) and Wells Fargo (WFC) stakes, Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKB) latest quarterly 13F filings with the SEC showed.Ms. Narayanan also covered the activity of top hedge funds in Q4:
Individual investors use the regulatory data to gauge where the "smart money," including the Oracle of Omaha, is placing its bets. The 13F filings show holdings at the end of each quarter, so big institutions and hedge funds may have made changes to stock positions since then.
Warren Buffett Buys Kroger Stock, Pares Apple Stock
Berkshire Hathaway reduced its stakes in Apple (AAPL) by 3.7 million shares, or a 1% cut; in Wells Fargo (WFC) by 55 million shares, a 14% cut; and in Bank of America (BAC) by more than 2 million shares, a fractional cut.
It left stakes in other top 10 stocks in its portfolio unchanged. The 13F filings showed Berkshire Hathaway also left Amazon (AMZN), which it first bought in Q1 2019, unchanged.
In Q4, the Warren Buffett-run company took new positions in Kroger and Biogen. It bought nearly 19 million shares of Kroger, worth around $549 million, and roughly 649,000 shares of Biogen, worth $192 million.
Berkshire grew its stake in IBD Leaderboard stock RH (RH), formerly Restoration Hardware, by 41%, after first picking up RH stock in Q3. It grew Occidental Petroleum (OXY) by 153%, after also picking up the oil giant in Q3. In 2019, Berkshire Hathaway invested $10 billion in Occidental to help secure funding for its $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum.
Buffett began building a stake in Apple after that stock sold off at the start of 2016. Berkshire steadily grew its Apple stake until modest trims in the final two quarters of 2019. In Q3 2019, Berkshire Hathaway had sold shares of both Apple and Wells Fargo.
This Remains The Top Warren Buffett Stock
But Apple stock remains the No. 1 stock in Buffett's portfolio at 29% of assets, as per 13F filings tracked by Whalewisdom.com.
Apple also ranks as one of the best investment decisions Buffett has made in his five decades running Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway is estimated to have paid an average $149.26 per Apple share.
Apple stock closed near 325 on the stock market today. Kroger stock surged 6% in late trade after closing down 1.4%. Biogen stock was not active late.
Meanwhile, top hedge funds bought Amazon (AMZN) and sold Microsoft (MSFT) in Q4.
Top hedge funds bought and sold shares of Alphabet (GOOGLE), Microsoft (MSFT), Facebook (FB), Uber (UBER) and Beyond Meat (BYND) last quarter but they appeared to agree that Amazon (AMZN) was a buy, the latest quarterly 13F filings with the SEC show.Zero Hedge also did a nice roundup of what top hedge funds bought and sold last quarter which you can read here.
Individual investors use the regulatory data to gauge where the "smart money" is placing its bets. The 13F filings show holdings at the end of each quarter, so hedge funds may have made changes to stock positions since then.
Third Point
Activist investor Dan Loeb of Third Point continued to be active in Q4, adding and dumping dozens of stocks, as per 13F filings tracked by Whalewisdom.com. The fund's biggest new buys in the quarter included Avantor (AVTR) and IAA (IAA). Loeb bought 6.5 million shares of salvage car auction specialist IAA worth more than $305 million. IAA stock popped 3.3% to close at 50.34 on the stock market today.
Other significant new buys included Amazon, recently reclaimed a market cap of $1 trillion, Ferrari (RACE), TD Ameritrade (AMTD) and Charles Schwab (SCHW). Online broker stocks had dived in Q4 on the move to zero stock trading commissions.
Third Point exited PayPal (PYPL) and Microsoft in the quarter.
Among top three stocks in the portfolio, Third Point cut its stake in United Technologies (UTX) by 13%, boosted Baxter International (BAX) by 3% and left Allergan (AGN) unchanged. It also cut Salesforce (CRM) by 12%, Campbell Soup (CPB) by 13% and boosted Adobe (ADBE) by 15%, all of them top-10 stocks in the fund's portfolio.
While paring United Technologies stock, Third Point took a new position in Raytheon (RTN). Loeb sought the breakup of United Technologies but opposed the industrial conglomerate's planned merger with defense contractor Raytheon.
Tiger Global Management
Chase Coleman's Tiger Global Management loaded up on tech stocks and fintech stocks. The hedge fund's biggest new Q4 buys included more than 2.4 million shares of PayPal worth roughly $264.8 million and more than 106,000 shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) worth $142.5 million. It also took smaller new positions in Cardlytics (CDLX), XP (XP) and Bill.com (BILL).
The hedge fund exited Fiat Chrysler (FCAU), MercadoLibre (MELI), Wayfair (W) and Beyond Meat (BYND). Fiat Chrysler announced a mega merger with Peugeot parent PSA Group in the quarter.
Tiger Global grew its stake in Uber (UBER) stake by nearly 15 million shares, or 224%. The ride-share giant is one of the New York-based group's top stock holdings.
Among other top 12 stocks in the portfolio, the fund lowered stakes in Amazon by 13%, Netflix (NFLX) by 27%, Facebook (FB) by 25%, Microsoft by 28%, and Alibaba (BABA) by 54%. But it kept No. 1 stock JD.com (JD) steady, at 10% of portfolio assets.
Appaloosa Management
David Tepper's Appaloosa Management was mixed on its three largest positions: trimming Alphabet (GOOG) by 1%, leaving Facebook unchanged, and growing Amazon (AMZN) by 10%. Together, the three FANG stocks make up more than 42% of the fund's portfolio assets (it doesn't own Netflix).
Among other big holdings, the fund increased its Micron Technology (MU) position by 35% and Alibaba (BABA) by 84%.
Jana Partners
Jana Partners bought Wright Medical Group (WMGI) and sold rival orthopedic implant maker Zimmer Biomet (ZBH) in the fourth quarter.
The activist hedge fund helmed by Barry Rosenstein bought more than 648,000 shares of Wright Medical Group worth nearly $20 million, a new position. Jana more than halved its stake in Zimmer Biomet and slashed Axalta Coating Systems (AXTA) by 60%.
Jana Partners kept its stakes in ConAgra (CAG) unchanged, cutting Callaway Golf (ELY) by 4% and Bloomin' Brands (BLMN) by 0.2%. The stocks are Jana's top three holdings by market value and portfolio weighting.
In 2019, Jana Partners liquidated two stock-picking funds to focus on impact investing. It has been pushing for change at Outback Steakhouse owner Bloomin' Brands, and Reuters reported Feb. 3 that Jana plans to nominate several directors at the dining chain, adding pressure as Bloomin' management continues to explore strategic options, including a sale.
Stryker (SYK) announced in November it is acquiring Wright Medical Group.
It's that time of the year again where we get a sneak peek into the portfolios of top funds, with the customary 45-day lag.
I mention this lag because a lot of things happened in markets since the end of Q4, and some are far more worried about preparing for the coming crash than what Warren Buffett and a bunch of hedge funders bought and sold last quarter.
I can pretty much sum up the activity of top funds lately in the two tweets below which I recently posted on Twitter:
Hedge Funds Have Never Been More Levered Or More Invested In The Same Handful Of Stocks | Zero Hedge https://t.co/RFZNWu1pef— Leo Kolivakis (@PensionPulse) February 16, 2020
Investors are flocking to the largest US growth stocks as concerns rise over the global economy https://t.co/VtMiNoqm16— Leo Kolivakis (@PensionPulse) February 17, 2020
That's pretty much it folks, everyone is flocking to US growth stocks as concerns rise over the global economy and that includes top hedge funds whose managers are growing richer than ever before:
Meet The 5 Hedge Fund Managers Who Made More Than $1 Billion Each In 2019 | Zero Hedge https://t.co/labloVdh0T— Leo Kolivakis (@PensionPulse) February 16, 2020
But the fascination with top hedge funds continues. I can tell you that Warren Buffett wasn't the only one who increased his holdings of Biogen (BIIB). Jim Simmons’s quantitative hedge fund powerhouse, Renaissance Technologies (RenTec), also increased its stake in Biogen and made some other notable moves, like massively increasing its stake in Tesla (TSLA) and increasing its stake in Sprint (S) as the stock declined before the recent merger news with T-Mobile:
Now, Biogen is a company I know extremely well. It's a biotech powerhouse, one of the top holdings of the iShares Nasdaq Biotech ETF (IBB), and some are banking that its drug, aducamunab, will get approval to be the first new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease in two decades.
As far as Tesla, I'm starting to think the latest parabolic move was another Renaissance Technologies Pump and dump but I have to wait till next quarter to confirm this. All I can tell you is Tesla shorts like Jim Chanos and David Einhorn got scorched this quarter as the stock went parabolic.
On Sprint, RenTec and Dodge & Cox were the top holders as at the end of Q4, so that turned out to be a great move even though there is some uncertainty surrounding the merger with T-Mobile.
Another notable hedge fund manager I'd like to bring to your attention is Bill Ackman who has quietly been making a nice comeback this year. If you look at his top holdings, you'll see Chipotle (CMG), Starbucks (SBUX) and Restaurant Brands (QSR).
Anyway, markets are closed due to Presidents Day so have fun looking at the latest quarterly activity of top funds listed below.
The links take you straight to their top holdings and then click on the column head "Change (%)" to see where they increased and decreased their holdings (you have to click once or twice to see).
I added TCI Fund Management, the world's most profitable hedge fund last year to my list of activist funds. I also added the top holdings of Skye Global Management, a L/S Equity fund started by ex-Third Point manager Jamie Sterne three years ago (at the age of 28) and the top-performing hedge fund last year posting a 54% gain, trouncing his rivals and the S&P 500 (we shall see if he can keep it up).
I also added Simplex Trading to my list of quant funds to track because I find it an interesting quant shop but I must admit, I don't know them at all. And I added ExodusPoint Capital Management, run by Michael Gelband, to my list of multi-strategy funds.
Top multi-strategy and event driven hedge funds
As the name implies, these hedge funds invest across a wide variety of hedge fund strategies like L/S Equity, L/S credit, global macro, convertible arbitrage, risk arbitrage, volatility arbitrage, merger arbitrage, distressed debt and statistical pair trading. Below are links to the holdings of some top multi-strategy hedge funds I track closely:
1) Appaloosa LP
2) Citadel Advisors
3) Balyasny Asset Management
4) Point72 Asset Management (Steve Cohen)
5) Peak6 Investments
6) Kingdon Capital Management
7) Millennium Management
8) Farallon Capital Management
9) HBK Investments
10) Highbridge Capital Management
11) Highland Capital Management
12) Hudson Bay Capital Management
13) Pentwater Capital Management
14) Sculptor Capital Management (formerly known as Och-Ziff Capital Management)
15) ExodusPoint Capital Management
16) Carlson Capital Management
17) Magnetar Capital
18) Whitebox Advisors
19) QVT Financial
20) Paloma Partners
21) Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisors
22) York Capital Management
Top Global Macro Hedge Funds and Family Offices
These hedge funds gained notoriety because of George Soros, arguably the best and most famous hedge fund manager. Global macros typically invest across fixed income, currency, commodity and equity markets.
George Soros, Carl Icahn, Stanley Druckenmiller, Julian Robertson have converted their hedge funds into family offices to manage their own money.
1) Soros Fund Management
2) Icahn Associates
3) Duquesne Family Office (Stanley Druckenmiller)
4) Bridgewater Associates
5) Pointstate Capital Partners
6) Caxton Associates (Bruce Kovner)
7) Tudor Investment Corporation (Paul Tudor Jones)
8) Tiger Management (Julian Robertson)
9) Discovery Capital Management (Rob Citrone)
10 Moore Capital Management
11) Element Capital
12) Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust (Michael Larson, the man behind Gates)
Top Quant and Market Neutral Hedge Funds
These funds use sophisticated mathematical algorithms to make their returns, typically using high-frequency models so they churn their portfolios often. A few of them have outstanding long-term track records and many believe quants are taking over the world. They typically only hire PhDs in mathematics, physics and computer science to develop their algorithms. Market neutral funds will engage in pair trading to remove market beta. Some are large asset managers that specialize in factor investing.
1) Alyeska Investment Group
2) Renaissance Technologies
3) DE Shaw & Co.
4) Two Sigma Investments
5) Cubist Systematic Strategies (a quant division of Point72)
6) Numeric Investors now part of Man Group
7) Analytic Investors
8) AQR Capital Management
9) Dimensional Fund Advisors
10) Quantitative Investment Management
11) Oxford Asset Management
12) PDT Partners
13) Angelo Gordon
14) Quantitative Systematic Strategies
15) Quantitative Investment Management
16) Bayesian Capital Management
17) SABA Capital Management
18) Quadrature Capital
19) Simplex Trading
Top Deep Value, Activist, Event Driven and Distressed Debt Funds
These are among the top long-only funds that everyone tracks. They include funds run by legendary investors like Warren Buffet, Seth Klarman, Ron Baron and Ken Fisher. Activist investors like to make investments in companies where management lacks the proper incentives to maximize shareholder value. They differ from traditional L/S hedge funds by having a more concentrated portfolio. Distressed debt funds typically invest in debt of a company but sometimes take equity positions.
1) Abrams Capital Management (the one-man wealth machine)
2) Berkshire Hathaway
3) TCI Fund Management
4) Baron Partners Fund (click here to view other Baron funds)
5) BHR Capital
6) Fisher Asset Management
7) Baupost Group
8) Fairfax Financial Holdings
9) Fairholme Capital
10) Gotham Asset Management
11) Fir Tree Partners
12) Elliott Associates
13) Jana Partners
14) Miller Value Partners (Bill Miller)
15) Highfields Capital Management
16) Eminence Capital
17) Pershing Square Capital Management
18) New Mountain Vantage Advisers
19) Atlantic Investment Management
20) Polaris Capital Management
21) Third Point
22) Marcato Capital Management
23) Glenview Capital Management
24) Apollo Management
25) Avenue Capital
26) Armistice Capital
27) Blue Harbor Group
28) Brigade Capital Management
29) Caspian Capital
30) Kerrisdale Advisers
31) Knighthead Capital Management
32) Relational Investors
33) Roystone Capital Management
34) Scopia Capital Management
35) Schneider Capital Management
36) ValueAct Capital
37) Vulcan Value Partners
38) Okumus Fund Management
39) Eagle Capital Management
40) Sasco Capital
41) Lyrical Asset Management
42) Gabelli Funds
43) Brave Warrior Advisors
44) Matrix Asset Advisors
45) Jet Capital
46) Conatus Capital Management
47) Starboard Value
48) Pzena Investment Management
49) Trian Fund Management
Top Long/Short Hedge Funds
These hedge funds go long shares they think will rise in value and short those they think will fall. Along with global macro funds, they command the bulk of hedge fund assets. There are many L/S funds but here is a small sample of some well-known funds.
1) Adage Capital Management
2) Viking Global Investors
3) Greenlight Capital
4) Maverick Capital
5) Pointstate Capital Partners
6) Marathon Asset Management
7) Tiger Global Management (Chase Coleman)
8) Coatue Management
9) D1 Capital Partners
10) Artis Capital Management
11) Fox Point Capital Management
12) Jabre Capital Partners
13) Lone Pine Capital
14) Paulson & Co.
15) Bronson Point Management
16) Hoplite Capital Management
17) LSV Asset Management
18) Hussman Strategic Advisors
19) Cantillon Capital Management
20) Brookside Capital Management
21) Blue Ridge Capital
22) Iridian Asset Management
23) Clough Capital Partners
24) GLG Partners LP
25) Cadence Capital Management
26) Honeycomb Asset Management
27) New Mountain Vantage
28) Penserra Capital Management
29) Eminence Capital
30) Steadfast Capital Management
31) Brookside Capital Management
32) PAR Capital Capital Management
33) Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co
34) Brahman Capital
35) Bridger Management
36) Kensico Capital Management
37) Kynikos Associates
38) Soroban Capital Partners
39) Passport Capital
40) Pennant Capital Management
41) Mason Capital Management
42) Tide Point Capital Management
43) Sirios Capital Management
44) Hayman Capital Management
45) Highside Capital Management
46) Tremblant Capital Group
47) Decade Capital Management
48) Suvretta Capital Management
49) Bloom Tree Partners
50) Cadian Capital Management
51) Matrix Capital Management
52) Senvest Partners
53) Falcon Edge Capital Management
54) Park West Asset Management
55) Melvin Capital Partners
56) Owl Creek Asset Management
57) Portolan Capital Management
58) Proxima Capital Management
59) Tourbillon Capital Partners
60) Impala Asset Management
61) Valinor Management
62) Marshall Wace
63) Light Street Capital Management
64) Rock Springs Capital Management
65) Rubric Capital Management
66) Whale Rock Capital
67) Skye Global Management
68) York Capital Management
69) Zweig-Dimenna Associates
Top Sector and Specialized Funds
I like tracking activity funds that specialize in real estate, biotech, healthcare, retail and other sectors like mid, small and micro caps. Here are some funds worth tracking closely.
1) Avoro Capital Advisors (formerly Venbio Select Advisors)
2) Baker Brothers Advisors
3) Perceptive Advisors
4) Broadfin Capital
5) Healthcor Management
6) Orbimed Advisors
7) Deerfield Management
8) BB Biotech AG
9) Birchview Capital
10) Ghost Tree Capital
11) Sectoral Asset Management
12) Oracle Investment Management
13) Palo Alto Investors
14) Consonance Capital Management
15) Camber Capital Management
16) Redmile Group
17) RTW Investments
18) Bridger Capital Management
19) Boxer Capital
20) Bridgeway Capital Management
21) Cohen & Steers
22) Cardinal Capital Management
23) Munder Capital Management
24) Diamondhill Capital Management
25) Cortina Asset Management
26) Geneva Capital Management
27) Criterion Capital Management
28) Daruma Capital Management
29) 12 West Capital Management
30) RA Capital Management
31) Sarissa Capital Management
32) Rock Springs Capital Management
33) Senzar Asset Management
34) Southeastern Asset Management
35) Sphera Funds
36) Tang Capital Management
37) Thomson Horstmann & Bryant
38) Ecor1 Capital
39) Opaleye Management
40) NEA Management Company
41) Great Point Partners
42) Tekla Capital Management
43) Van Berkom and Associates
Mutual Funds and Asset Managers
Mutual funds and large asset managers are not hedge funds but their sheer size makes them important players. Some asset managers have excellent track records. Below, are a few funds investors track closely.
1) Fidelity
2) Blackrock Fund Advisors
3) Wellington Management
4) AQR Capital Management
5) Sands Capital Management
6) Brookfield Asset Management
7) Dodge & Cox
8) Eaton Vance Management
9) Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co.
10) Geode Capital Management
11) Goldman Sachs Group
12) JP Morgan Chase & Co.
13) Morgan Stanley
14) Manulife Asset Management
15) RCM Capital Management
16) UBS Asset Management
17) Barclays Global Investor
18) Epoch Investment Partners
19) Thornburg Investment Management
20) Kornitzer Capital Management
21) Batterymarch Financial Management
22) Tocqueville Asset Management
23) Neuberger Berman
24) Winslow Capital Management
25) Herndon Capital Management
26) Artisan Partners
27) Great West Life Insurance Management
28) Lazard Asset Management
29) Janus Capital Management
30) Franklin Resources
31) Capital Research Global Investors
32) T. Rowe Price
33) First Eagle Investment Management
34) Frontier Capital Management
35) Akre Capital Management
36) Brandywine Global
37) Brown Capital Management
38) Victory Capital Management
39) Orbis
40) ARK Investment Management
Canadian Asset Managers
Here are a few Canadian funds I track closely:
1) Addenda Capital
2) Letko, Brosseau and Associates
3) Fiera Capital Corporation
4) West Face Capital
5) Hexavest
6) 1832 Asset Management
7) Jarislowsky, Fraser
8) Connor, Clark & Lunn Investment Management
9) TD Asset Management
10) CIBC Asset Management
11) Beutel, Goodman & Co
12) Greystone Managed Investments
13) Mackenzie Financial Corporation
14) Great West Life Assurance Co
15) Guardian Capital
16) Scotia Capital
17) AGF Investments
18) Montrusco Bolton
19) CI Investments
20) Venator Capital Management
21) Van Berkom and Associates
22) Formula Growth
23) Hillsdale Investment Management
Pension Funds, Endowment Funds, and Sovereign Wealth Funds
Last but not least, I the track activity of some pension funds, endowment and sovereign wealth funds. I like to focus on funds that invest in top hedge funds and have internal alpha managers. Below, a sample of pension and endowment funds I track closely:
1) Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMco)
2) Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
3) Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
4) Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
5) OMERS Administration Corp.
6) British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI)
7) Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments)
8) PGGM Investments
9) APG All Pensions Group
10) California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS)
11) California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS)
12) New York State Common Fund
13) New York State Teachers Retirement System
14) State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System
15) State of Wisconsin Investment Board
16) State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund
17) Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio
18) STRS Ohio
19) Teacher Retirement System of Texas
20) Virginia Retirement Systems
21) TIAA CREF investment Management
22) Harvard Management Co.
23) Norges Bank
24) Nordea Investment Management
25) Korea Investment Corp.
26) Singapore Temasek Holdings
27) Yale Endowment Fund
Below, money managers are out with their holdings and moves from the fourth quarter. 13F filings hit before the weekend, revealing the latest trends among hedge funds as global equities wrapped up their best year in a decade. Bloomberg’s Dani Burger reports on “Bloomberg Markets: European Open.”
And CNBC's Dominic Chu discusses Berkshire's new positions in Kroger and Biogen as well as other positions. Dominic Chu also breaks down Tiger Global's fourth quarter 13F.
In these liquidity-driven markets, take all this lagged information with a shaker, not grain of salt, and always hedge your downside risk!!
Update: On Tuesday morning, Cathie Wood, the best investor you never heard of, appeared on CNBC. Wood is the CEO of ARK Invest which manages the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), the best performer among 584 funds with at least US$1 billion of assets in the global equity market, crushing its competitors with a total return of 165% over the past three years.
Wood has a $7,000 price target on Tesla and is the biggest bull on the company stating that Wall Street's skepticism is "the best wall of worry" she has experienced (see last clip below). You can view the ARK Innovation ETF's top ten holding on Yahoo here. A detailed list of ARK Investment Management's holdings is available here and I added it to my list of US asset managers at the end.
Another ETF I'd like to bring to your attention is the Goldman Sachs Hedge Fund VIP Index (GVIP) which is an ETF that tracks the top holdings of top hedge funds using 13F filings. It too has performed well and you can track its performance and the top holdings here.
Comments
Post a Comment