As we continue to go through major institutional investors’ 13F filings for the third quarter, we took a look at Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management’s. Between July and September, the fund started 11 new positions, increased its stakes in another 13 stocks, and sold out of 6. Following these moves, its equity portfolio, mainly focused on tech stocks, is worth more than $9.7 billion, up from $8 billion by the end of the second quarter. In this article, we will take a closer look at Coatue’s top 3 positions for the period: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU).
Coatue Management is a New York City-based hedge fund sponsor founded by Philippe Laffont in 1999. It focuses on tech companies and, to a lesser extent, on media and telecommunications stocks. Prior to Coatue, Mr. Laffont worked for Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management, after graduating with M.S. in Computer Science from MIT.
Same as in the previous quarter, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) ranked first in Mr. Laffont’s list. After boosting its stake by 4% over the period, the fund owns 10.57 million shares, worth about $1.06 billion, which account for roughly 10.9% of the fund’s equity portfolio’s total value.
Other major institutional investors betting on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) are Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP, which owns 52.76 million shares, worth about $5.3 billion, and D.E. Shaw, who last disclosed ownership of 11.65 million shares, worth about $1.1 billion (check out D.E. Shaw’s top picks for the third quarter, here). In fact, Apple is the most popular stock amongst hedge funds for the third quarter.
Second in Mr. Laffont’s list is Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), the $21.84 billion market cap internet television network. Despite a miniscule reduction in the fund’s stake, the stock kept its second-runner-up position. Coatue owns more than 2.08 million shares, worth over $938 million, which make it the largest insititutional investor in the company, out of those we keep track of.
As the Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) pushes for strong net neutrality and continues to expand internationally, other major funds with big stakes continue to trim their exposure to the stock. This is the case of Carl Icahn, one of the largest shareholders, who disposed of more than 350,000 shares over the third quarter, and now owns 1.41 million shares, and of Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global, who also reduced its wage by 19%, to 1.05 million shares.
Last in this list is Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU), which displaced Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) from the third spot. The $83.8 billion market cap Chinese-language Internet search provider (that is both amongst the Top 10 Tech Stock Picks Among Hedge Funds, and the 15 Most Visited Websites In The World) saw Coatue boost its stake by 159% over the quarter, to 3.66 million shares, worth about $800 million.
Also betting on Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU), despite an 8% reduction in its wage, is Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital. In fact, holding 8.18 million shares, worth more than $1.7 billion, this is the fund’s largest stake. Check out its other top picks here.
Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any stocks or funds mentioned
