Amazon, Monsanto, Activision: Hedge Funds Loved These 5 Stocks The Most in Q2

Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD)

– Number of Hedge Funds With Long Positions (as of June 30): 74
– Aggregate Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of June 30): $3.56 billion

It’s not totally surprising to see an energy stock make the list, as the sector has started to rebound from what was likely rock-bottom. There were 13 more hedge funds in our database with long positions in Pioneer Natural Resources on June 30 than there were on March 31. New investors of the company included Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, John Griffin’s Blue Ridge Capital, and David Stemerman’s Conatus Capital.

Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD)’s output was strong during the second quarter, as it topped its own estimates by producing 233,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, topping its previous guidance by 6,500 at the mid-point. Production is being spurred by the company’s version 2.0 completed wells, and it has now completed 37 version 3.0 wells, with the early returns from those wells being even stronger than the enhanced 2.0 version when the chokes are fully opened. Pioneer expects to have 80 version 3.0 wells in production by the end of the year.

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)

– Number of Hedge Funds With Long Positions (as of June 30): 68
– Aggregate Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of June 30): $4.10 billion

After being in a dogfight for several quarters with Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) over which would be crowned hedge funds’ favorite video game stock, Warcraft developer Activision Blizzard blew past its rival in the second quarter, with ownership of the stock among hedge funds that we track jumping to 68 from 52, while EA’s figure rose to 58 from 56. Dan Loeb’s Third Point, Eric Bannasch’s Cadian Capital, and Ben Gambill’s Tiger Eye Capital were among the many new Activision Blizzard shareholders.

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)’s smash hit Overwatch has topped 15 million players since its launch a little over two months ago, pushing the company’s monthly active users across all of its online games to a record 33 million. In addition to its other online hits World of Warcraft and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Activision Blizzard also has a new Call of Duty game coming later this year, as well as an expansion for the popular online shooter/RPG Destiny.

Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON)

– Number of Hedge Funds With Long Positions (as of June 30): 87
– Aggregate Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of June 30): $5.32 billion

Monsanto easily tops the list, though it did so because of merger news, which often sends hedge fund ownership soaring as merger arb funds get in on the action. However, given that Monsanto never did end up reaching an agreement with any company, unlike several others during the quarter which had jumps in hedge fund ownership, we decided to include it on this list. In total, there were 36 more hedge funds long Monsanto on June 30 than on March 31, among them Clint Carlson‘s Carlson Capital, Eric Mindich’s Eton Park Capital, and Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital.

If the host of hedge funds newly-long Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) were hoping for its acquisition, it has disappointed them in the third quarter by rejecting another offer from Bayer, which would create a chemicals juggernaut. While Monsanto has expressed a willingness to be acquired for the right price, Bayer may be willing to force the issue if a deal can’t be reached by launching a hostile takeover bid. Handelsblatt reported last week that the German company is weighing whether to “turn directly to shareholders” should a deal with Monsanto’s management not materialize.

Disclosure: None