4 Stocks Respected Activist Investor Jeffrey Smith Bought in Q3 (and 1 He Dumped)

Jeffrey Smith‘s Starboard Value is one of the most followed and well respected activist hedge funds out there, consistently spurring positive operational changes at companies that it invests in and driving shares higher, which is why the fund likes to use the term “operational activist” to describe itself. Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO) Rockwell Collins, Inc. (NYSE:COL) and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (NASDAQ:CTSH) were among Five Companies to Benefit from Starboard’s Involvement in 2017.

When Starboard Value makes moves, the market pays attention, as it did earlier this month when shares of Magellan Health Inc (NASDAQ:MGLN), one of the 11 Best Insurance Companies to Invest in, jumped by close to 8% on the day Starboard’s 9.8% stake in the health insurer was revealed. The fund could be considering advocating for a sale or changes among the company’s leadership as ways to increase the stock’s value a source told CNBC.

During Q3, Starboard added two new holdings to its 13F portfolio and unloaded four positions. That left the fund with just 14 long positions, as the number of holdings it owns continues to get scaled back, down from 22 a year earlier. Jeffrey Smith’s fund is more bullish on tech stocks than it’s been in five years, with them having 38.76% weighting in Starboard’s $3.9 billion 13F portfolio.

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On the next page we’ll dig into all of Starboard Value’s biggest Q3 moves and see how those stocks have performed so far in the fourth quarter.