In this article, we discuss billionaire Ken Griffin’s top 5 stock picks. For Griffin’s investment philosophy, and his comments on certain stocks please see Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Top 5 Stock Picks.
5. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Value: $576,472,000
Percent of Ken Griffin’s 13F Portfolio: 0.15%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 258
Microsoft ranks 5th on the list of billionaire Ken Griffin’s top 10 stock picks. MSFT shares are up 66% over the last 12 months. Citadel increased its hold in the company by roughly 50%. It now owns 2.6 million shares of the company, worth $576.47 million.
Fisher Asset Management is one of the 258 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey having stakes in MSFT at the end of the fourth quarter. The fund owns over 23.4 million shares of the company, worth $5.2 billion. MSFT ranks 10th in our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds: 2020 Q4 Rankings.
In their Q4 2020 investor letter, Bretton Fund highlighted a few stocks and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“Microsoft’s stock also had a great year, returning 42.4% on increased earnings per share of 30%. The main driver of their growth in recent years is their cloud computing business, and while it did see a bump in demand as office workers went remote, most of the growth is from the continued shift of corporate computing systems to “the cloud.” We think this shift is still in its early stages.”
4. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG)
Value: $579,694,000
Percent of Ken Griffin’s 13F Portfolio: 0.15%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 83
Tobacco company Procter & Gamble ranks 4th on the list of billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel’s portfolio. The hedge fund increased its stake in the company by 117%. The total value of Griffin’s stake in the company is $578 million. In January, Procter & Gamble said its revenue for the fiscal second quarter jumped 8% amid an increasing demand for its cleaning, shaving and styling products. EPS in the quarter came in at $1.664, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51.
The company is getting the attention of the smart money, as 83 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey reported owning stakes in the company at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, up from 75 funds a quarter earlier.
3. DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (NYSE: DD)
Value: $627,669,000
Percent of Ken Griffin’s 13F Portfolio: 0.17%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 60
DuPont de Nemours is the third-biggest stock holding on Ken Griffin’s Citadel’s portfolio. The hedge fund increased its stake in the company by 74% in the period, ending the quarter with over 8.8 million shares of the company, worth $627.7 million. DuPont de Nemours stock is up roughly 150% over the last 12 months. The company recently reaffirmed guidance for full-year EPS that was in-line with the consensus estimate.
As of the end of the fourth quarter, 60 hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database of 887 funds held stakes in DuPont de Nemours, compared to 61 funds in the third quarter. 40 North Management is the biggest stakeholder in the company, with 20.3 million shares, worth $1.4 billion.
Rhizome Partners, in their Q4 2020 investor letter, said that DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (NYSE: DD) will likely execute better results this 2021. Here is what Rhizome Partners has to say about DuPont de Nemours, Inc. in their Q4 2020 investor letter:
“DuPont is expected to merge its Nutrition and Bioscience business with International Flavors and Fragrances in early 2021. Auto sales and industrials, an area of weakness for DuPont earlier in 2020 will likely emerge much stronger in 2021. We believe these two factors have helped drive shares to over $71 at the end of Q4. Dupont has also been shedding non-core businesses with lower ROIC and growth prospects. The remaining segments are more pure-play and focused. Corteva, the previous DuPont agricultural focused spinoff, was recently targeted by activist investor Starboard Value which led to year-end price gains.”
2. Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB)
Value: $839,157,000
Percent of Ken Griffin’s 13F Portfolio: 0.22%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 242
Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel increased its stake in Facebook by 7% in the fourth quarter. It now owns 3.1 million shares of the company, worth $839 million. Facebook stock is up 85% over the last 12 months. According to our database, the number of FB’s long hedge funds positions increased at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020. There were 242 hedge funds that hold a position in Facebook compared to 230 funds in the third quarter. The biggest stakeholder of the company is SB Management, with 12 million shares, worth $3.3 billion. FB ranks 3rd in our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds: 2020 Q4 Rankings.
1. iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ: IEF)
Value: $1,255,069,000
Percent of Ken Griffin’s 13F Portfolio: 0.34%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 6
In the fourth quarter of 2020, billionaire Ken Griffin increased his stake in iShares Trust (IEF) by +4637%. Citadel now has a $1.3 billion stake in IEF. Treasury ETFs give investors an exposure to U.S. government bond market. On March 18, the 10-year Treasury yield, jumped 0.096 percentage points to 1.738%.
With a $1.3 billion stake in IEF, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management owns 3.3 million shares of the company as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2020. Our database shows that 6 hedge funds held stakes in IEF as of the end of the fourth quarter, versus 4 funds in the third quarter.
You can also take a peek at Cathie Wood’s Top 10 Stock Picks and Billionaire Carl Icahn’s Top 10 Picks.
