Investing
Hedge Funds Bought Apple, P&G in Q3; Dumped Allergan, Charter
Published:
Last Updated:
Building on a turn toward more equity investments in the second quarter of this year, the top 50 hedge funds boosted their equity positions by 2.9% in the third quarter. The second-quarter increase amounted to just 0.3%, but that was far better than the 7% decrease in equity exposure in the first quarter of this year.
Hedge funds added $8.94 billion to their exposure to Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) and nearly $2.1 billion in exposure to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). That’s quite a reversal for Apple. The top 50 funds cut their total position in Apple stock by 40% in the second quarter, and Apple’s was the most-sold stock in the first quarter as well.
The health care sector accounted for the largest aggregate sale in the third quarter, with hedge funds dropping $1.8 billion in Allegan PLC (NYSE: AGN) shares. In the second quarter, Allergan was the third most-sold stock by the top 50 funds. Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: TEVA) and animal health firm Zoetis Inc. (NYSE: ZTS) were also sold-off strongly in the quarterly.
The data were reported Thursday by FactSet.
Here’s the good news/bad news for investors in these 50 funds:
On a total return basis, the aggregate hedge fund portfolio of the top 50 holdings outperformed the S&P 500 Total Return Index in Q3, but has underperformed on a year-to-date basis through November 15th. The top 50 holdings of the top 50 hedge funds increased 10.5% during the third quarter, while the S&P 500 Total Return index gained 3.9%. On a year-to-date basis, the top 50 holdings have gained 4%, which trails the 8.7% YTD return of the S&P 500.
Among the five funds as measured by equity assets, Millennium Management was a top buyer of P&G and a top seller of Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR). P&G is the fund’s top holding.
Renaissance Technologies is the second-largest hedge fund and its top holding is Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE: NVO). Its top buy in the third quarter was Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and its top sale was CVS Health Corp. (NYSE: CVS).
The third-largest fund, D.E. Shaw, bought more Apple stock than any other during the quarter and sold more equity in Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB). Shaw’s top holding is Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).
Citadel Advisors’ top holding is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEMKT: SPY), which was also the fund’s top buy in the third quarter. Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (NYSE: FIS) was Citadel’s most-sold stock.
Adage Capital Management, holder of the fifth-largest stash of equity assets, bought CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF) and sold American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL). The fund’s top holding is Apple.
For additional charts and details see the FactSet website.
Credit card companies are handing out rewards and benefits to win the best customers. A good cash back card can be worth thousands of dollars a year in free money, not to mention other perks like travel, insurance, and access to fancy lounges. See our top picks for the best credit cards today. You won’t want to miss some of these offers.
Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.