After Returning $400 Million to Investors, This is How Seminole Management Tweaked its Portfolio in Q1

#4. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE)

 – Number of shares held by Seminole Management (as of March 31): 3.65 Million

 – Value of Seminole Management’s holding (as of March 31): $64.78 Million

The New York-based hedge fund was bullish on Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) in the first quarter, as the asset manager lifted its HPE stake by approximately 72% during the period. In mid-April, analysts at Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise with an ‘Outperform’ rating and a price target of $21 on the stock, saying that the company could become a leading information technology provider with strong R&D capabilities and dominate the IT hardware and services segments. Oppenheimer identified HPE’s high mix of recurring revenue, which accounts for 42% of revenue, as one strong reason to be bullish on the company. HEP shares have gained 5% since the start of 2016. Richard S. Pzena’s Pzena Investment Management has 20.84 million shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) in its equity portfolio as of March 31.

#3. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

 – Number of shares held by Seminole Management (as of March 31): 1.50 Million

 – Value of Seminole Management’s holding (as of March 31): $81.21 Million

Seminole Management decided to cut its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the first quarter, by 43% to 1.50 million shares. The 1.50 million-share stake was valued at $81.21 million shares at the end of March and made up 6.5% of the hedge fund’s portfolio. At the end of April, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) and activist firm Starboard Value LP reached an agreement to add Jeffrey Smith and three other Starboard-nominated directors to the Board, which could speed up the sale process of Yahoo!’s Web business. Verizon, which bought AOL Inc. in May 2015, is seen as the leading candidate to win Yahoo!’s auction process. Verizon has been seeking to capitalize on the market shift to digital content and advertising, and the acquisition of Yahoo’s core businesses may assist the company in controlling greater market share in the digital advertising space. Verizon shares are 10% in the green year-to-date. Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management acquired a stake of almost 408,000 shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the January-to-March period.