Zynga Inc (ZNGA): Ricky Sandler’s Eminence Capital Discloses 5.1% Passive Stake

New York-based hedge fund Eminence Capital, managed by Ricky Sandler, has revealed a 5.1% passive stake in Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA). A new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed that Eminence Capital holds 38.07 million class A common stock shares of the company. The stake represents an increase from 26.53 million shares the fund disclosed in its 13F filing.

Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), located in San Francisco, California, is engaged in the development of social games. The company has a market cap of $2.71 billion, and its stock currently trades at around $3.02. Analysts have the consensus average target price of $3.62 for the company’s stock, with the average recommendation ‘Hold.’

In July, the company said it had appointed Dr. Regina E. Dugan, vice president of engineering and leader of the advanced technology and projects (ATAP) group at Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), to its board of directors, according to a press release.

For the second quarter of 2014, Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) reported a net loss of $62.5 million, compared to $15.8 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company’s revenue fell 34% to $153.2 million from $230.7 million in the second quarter of 2013. In addition, the company revised its outlook for full-year 2014. It expects adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $40 million to $60 million, compared to previous expectation between $70 million and $100 million, and bookings are projected to be in the range of $695 million to $725 million, compared to previous expectation between $770 million and $810 million.

Other hedge funds betting big on Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) include Viking Global, run by Andreas Halvorsen, and Raging Capital Management, led by William C. Martin. Viking Global disclosed owning 25.93 million shares of the company, while Raging Capital Management reported holding 19.73 million shares of the company.

Eminence Capital was founded by Ricky Sandler in 1998. Sandler, 42 years old, started his career in 1991 as a research analyst at Mark Asset Management. During the second quarter, Eminence Capital focused more on Services and Technology stocks. The value of the fund’s equity portfolio for the second quarter totaled $6.1 billion. Top three holdings of Eminence Capital for the second quarter are represented by Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK), National-Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV), and Fossil Group Inc (NASDAQ:FOSL).

Disclosure: none