Arrowstreet Capital’s Top Picks Include Philip Morris International Inc. (PM), AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (AZN) & More

Arrowstreet Capital was founded by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke, and John Campbell in 1999. With assets under management of over $25 billion, the hedge fund uses mathematical and statistical models as a strategy of picking stocks. Learn why it’s crucial to track top-tier hedge funds’ quarterly 13Fs.

Let’s get back to Arrowstreet. During the second quarter of 2013, the hedge fund disclosed its largest stake in GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR) (NYSE:GSK). The stake includes 10.2 million shares and is worth more than $510.5 million. During the second quarter of 2013, the hedge fund increased its stake in GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR) (NYSE:GSK) by 45% or about 3.2 million shares, which moved it one position up in the equity portfolio.

The second-largest pick in the Arrowstreet equity portfolio is Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM), in which the hedge fund holds 5.1 million shares, worth $441.2 million, up by 397,309 shares over the quarter. The stock of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) has returned over 5% since the beginning of the year, and sports a P/E of 17.0x.

In AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN), Arrowstreet Capital disclosed a $291.5 million position, up from $166 million reported at the end of the first three months of 2013. The stake contains about 6.2 million shares, up by over 2.8 million shares over the quarter. The healthcare company AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN) has a year-to-date return of above 8% and trades at a forward P/E of 10.2x.

Next on our list is DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV), represented in the hedge fund’s equity portfolio by 4.5 million shares, worth $279.5 million. In the previous 13F filing, Arrowstreet Capital reported a $317.8 million stake in DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV), which contained 5.6 million shares. With a forward P/E of about 10.8, the stock of DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) returned almost 23.5%.

And the last but not the least, we should mention 17.6 million shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW). The stake is worth $250.6 million, up from $216.3 million disclosed at the end of March, when the stake comprised 16.2 million shares. The stock of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) returned over 20% since January and has a forward P/E of 10.6x.

On the whole, the market value of Arrowstreet Capital’s equity portfolio amounts to $13.4 million, up from $12.4 million reported at the end of the first quarter of 2013, and it involves over 800 positions.

Richard Chilton’s Chilton Investment Company, Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management and Quincy Lee’s Ancient Art (Teton Capital) are also worth taking a look at.

Disclosure: none