American International Group Inc (AIG): Hedge Funds Are Snapping Up Amid Activist Targeting

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Amother activist, JANA Partners, managed by billionaire Barry Rosenstein, initiated the biggest position in American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG). JANA Partners had $263.6 million invested in the company at the end of the fourth quarter. Benjamin A. Smith’s Laurion Capital Management also initiated a $79 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AIG positions are Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, Emanuel J. Friedman’s EJF Capital, and Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG). These stocks are QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), Toronto-Dominion Bank (USA) (NYSE:TD), and UBS AG (USA) (NYSE:UBS). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to AIG’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 34 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.95 billion. That figure was $10.96 billion in AIG’s case. QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) is the most popular stock in this table with a total of 68 funds holding long positions, while UBS AG (USA) (NYSE:UBS) is the least popular one. Compared to these stocks American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) is much more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, as well as Icahn’s involvement and his track record of increasing values at many companies, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.