KeyCorp (KEY), McDonald’s Corporation (MCD): Clinton Group Makes Huge Moves On These 5 Finance and Consumer Stocks

Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD)

– Shares Owned by Clinton Group (as of June 30): 180,922

– Value of Holding (as of June 30): $23.10 Million

Clinton Group made a U-turn regarding Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) during the first-half of this year. While during the first quarter the fund reduced its holding in the company by 81%, it increased its stake in Home Depot by a whopping 3,175% during the second quarter. Other hedge funds that also became increasingly bullish on the company during the second quarter included Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners, as well as Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management. The multi-year bull run that Home Depot’s stock has enjoyed seems to have ended in 2016, as it’s currently trading down by nearly 5% year-to-date. Even analysts who used to be extremely upbeat about the stock have toned down their expectations in the past few months, citing the company’s recent comp sales figures. On September 16, analysts at Argus reiterated their ‘Hold’ rating and $154 price target on Home Depot, which represents potential upside of 21.4%. At the end of June, there were 67 hedge funds in our system long Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), with the aggregate value of their holdings in it amounting to $4.37 billion.

American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG)

– Shares Owned by Clinton Group (as of June 30): 497,732

– Value of Holding (as of June 30): $26.32 Million

American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) was a new entrant to Clinton Group’s equity portfolio during the second quarter. Despite the company agreeing to return $25 billion to shareholders over the next two years back in January, its stock has fallen by almost 7.5% in 2016 and currently trades at a 30% discount to its book value. Most analysts consider the stock to be a lucrative long-term buy right now, especially when one takes into account its current annual dividend yield of 2.21% and the expected hike to that quarterly dividend. For AIG’s fiscal year 2016 third quarter, the current consensus estimate of analysts is for it to pull in EPS of $1.18 on revenue of $13.03 billion. For the same quarter of its previous fiscal year, the company reported EPS of $0.52 on revenue of $13.18 billion. The number of hedge funds that we track which were bullish on American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) fell by nine to 86 during the second quarter, while the aggregate value of their holdings in it declined by $1.11 billion to $7.28 billion.

Visa Inc (NYSE:V)

– Shares Owned by Clinton Group (as of June 30): 365,564

– Value of Holding (as of June 30): $27.11 Million

Visa Inc (NYSE:V) made its debut in Clinton Group’s equity portfolio during the second quarter and immediately became the fund’s most valuable equity holding at the end of the period. Shares of the payment processing giant have appreciated by 263.15% in the last five years and made their 52-week high at $83.63 earlier this month. In June 2016, the company completed its acquisition of Visa Europe, which unified the brand once again after eight years as separate companies. Though some investors are concerned that the cash-and-stock acquisition will dilute their equity in the company, most analysts think that won’t happen because the company has accelerated its share repurchase program in the last two quarters and will continue to do so until the dilutive effect of new shares has been completely offset. Last week, analysts at Barclays reiterated their ‘Overweight’ rating on the stock while boosting their price target on it to $92 from $88, which represents potential upside of 11.5%. Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was the eighth-most popular company among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey at the end of the second quarter, 118 of which reported holding long positions in it as of June 30, with the aggregate value of their Visa holdings accounting for 5.80% of the company’s float.

Disclosure: None