5 Hot IPOs That Hedge Funds Couldn’t Ignore

1. Athene Holding Ltd (NYSE:ATH)

Top Hedge Fund Backers: 1. Zimmer Partners (3.64 million shares) 2. Segantii Capital (1.08 million shares) 3. Millennium Management (1.07 million shares)

Athene Holding Ltd (NYSE:ATH) was the most popular IPO of the fourth quarter among the hedge funds in our system, with 31 of them buying shares of the stock. It’s also been one of the most successful IPOs of last year, with shares up by 13.37%, and that despite the recent announcement of a secondary offering of 27.5 million shares at $48.50 per share.

However, Athene Holding Ltd (NYSE:ATH) is now quite aggressively priced, which may not make it as attractive as some of the other options discussed earlier. With a price/book value of about 1.45, it’s priced far more richly than peers like Metlife Inc (NYSE:MET), which trades at a price/book ratio of just 0.85. However, Metlife also has an extremely low return on average assets, which Athene Holding Ltd (NYSE:ATH) does not, in part due to its riskier investments. Athene has been linked as a potential suitor for Fidelity Guaranty & Life should the latter’s merger with Anbang officially fall through.

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