Billionaire Israel Englander’s Catapult Management Is Betting Big On These 5 Stocks for Q4

Catapult Capital Management is a New York-based long/short equity hedge fund subsidiary of Millennium Management, an alternative asset management firm founded by billionaire Israel Englander in 1989. Millennium Management employs over 1,800 people across its offices in the United States, Europe and Asia and manages nearly $32.5 billion of investors’ money, as of November 1, 2015.  Catapult Capital Management recently submitted its 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the reporting period of September 30. The filing revealed that at the end of September, Catapult Capital’s U.S equity portfolio was worth $264.5 million, a significant decline from the nearly $696 million that it was worth at the end of June. The filing also revealed that the equity portfolio of Catapult saw a very high quarter-over-quarter turnover of 134.44% during the period. In this article we will take a closer look at Catapult Capital’s top five stock picks going into the fourth quarter.

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#5 NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUVA)

 – Shares Owned by Catapult Capital Management (as of September 30): 135,000

 – Value of Holding (as of September 30): $6.51 Million

The 85,000 shares of NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUVA) that Catapult Capital Management bought during the third quarter helped the company jump 97 spots quarter-over-quarter to become the fund’s fifth-largest equity holding by the end of September. Shares of NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUVA) have largely remained in the range of $45-to-$55 this year and currently trade up by 11% year-to-date. On October 29, analysts at Canaccord Genuity reiterated their ‘Buy’ rating and $58 price target on the stock, which represents a potential upside of over 10%. Of the 37 hedge funds covered by Insider Monkey that reported owning a stake in the company at the end of the third quarter, Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow‘s Blue Mountain Capital was its second-largest shareholder, having initiated its stake in the third quarter by purchasing 1.66 million shares of NuVasive, Inc.

#4 Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET)

 – Shares Owned by Catapult Capital Management (as of September 30): 72,877

 – Value of Holding (as of September 30): $7.97 Million

Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET) also made a big jump in Catapult Capital’s portfolio, from being its 20th-largest equity holding at the end of June to being its fourth-largest at the end of September, thanks to Catapult upping its stake by 45% during the third quarter. However, a lot of hedge funds didn’t feel the same way towards the company during the period, as the number of hedge funds in our database that reported having a stake in Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET) dropped to 70 from 80. Shares of Aetna rose steadily throughout the first half of the year, but have been on a gradual decline ever since the company announced that it would be acquiring Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) for $37 billion in July. Last month, shareholders of Aetna voted overwhelmingly in favor of the merger. However, some analysts are still skeptical about the deal going through due to the regulatory hurdles it faces. Daniel S. Och‘s OZ Management was one of the funds that initiated a stake in the company during the third quarter; it held over 3.75 million shares of Aetna Inc as of September 30.