Apple Inc. (AAPL), Visa Inc (V), Actavis plc (ACT): Laurion Capital Reveals Top Stock Picks

The second largest position in Laurion Capital’s equity portfolio at the end of last quarter was Visa Inc (NYSE:V), with a stake of 306,200 Class A Common Shares. The hedge fund increased its exposure by 25% since the third quarter and has been betting on the company for several years. This seems like a sure bet as a long-term investment, considering share prices grew by 19% over the past year, while the stock has gained more than 220% over a 5 year period. Furthermore, Visa continues to perform better than expected, recently announcing an increase in its quarterly profit and beating the earnings consensus estimate of $2.18 per share by registering an actual EPS of $2.52. Also, in addition to Laurion Capital, the company is backed by numerous institutional investors, such as Ken Fisher’s Asset Management, which owns 3.58 million shares. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global is also betting on Visa Inc (NYSE:V) and holds a stake of 3 million shares of common stock.

Finally, the third equity to make the cut of Laurion Capital’s top picks at the end of 2014 was Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT), with a position of 199,800 shares. Mr. Smith’s fund has been betting on the pharmaceutical company since the third quarter, when it disclosed the purchase of 179,100 shares. Since it revealed entering this new position in its third quarter 13F filing, the company’s share price has gained 14%. Furthermore, while the stock is trading at around $278 per share, the analysts at Citi recently raised Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT)’s price target to $325 per share and continue to maintain their “buy” rating. This new assessment is due to the potential seen in biosimilars, which are being developed by the company in partnership with Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) and could result in a large increase in revenue.

Disclosure: none.