Billionaire Steven Cohen Buys Stake in the Week’s Hottest Biotech Stock, Plus 3 Other Moves

It’s common knowledge that hedge fund managers are highly-informed and diligent investors, so their bullish moves may represent a reliable confirmation of a retail investor’s interest in a particular company. By examining hedge funds’ 13G, 13D, and Form 4 filings, investors can figure out what these investment vehicles think of their high-conviction ideas. These three types of filings usually allow investors to track hedge funds’ entire equity investment process (from the initial investment in a company through the cash out process of that investment). With that in mind, the following article discusses four filings submitted with the SEC by several highly-successful hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey.

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In a newly-amended 13D filing, Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors reported owning 4.40 million shares of Atlas Energy Group LLC (NYSE:ATLS), which account for 15.4% of the company’s total shares. The stake includes 2.50 million shares that may be acquired by Mr. Cooperman upon conversion of 800,000 shares of the company’s Series A Preferred Units, which were acquired in February 2015. As revealed by an accompanying Form 4 filed on behalf of the widely-known money manager, Mr. Cooperman has sold 953,639 shares of Atlas Energy Group since last Wednesday, at prices that ranged from $0.44 to $0.58 per share.

Atlas Energy Group LLC (NYSE:ATLS) is a limited liability company whose operations primarily consist of its ownership interests in several entities: 100% of the general partner Class A units, all incentive distribution rights and roughly 23.6% limited partner interest in Atlas Resource Partners L.P. (NYSE:ARP), which is an independent producer of natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL); an 80% general partner interest and 2.1% limited partner interest in Atlas Growth Partners L.P.; and a 15.9% general partner interest and 12.0% limited partner interest in Lightfoot Capital Partners, which invests in energy-related businesses and assets. There were four hedge funds in our system invested in Atlas Energy Group LLC at the end of December 2015, which aggregately amassed 19.20% of its outstanding shares. Michael Kao’s Akanthos Capital Management LLC owns 1.06 million shares of Atlas Energy Group LLC (NYSE:ATLS) as of December 31.

The final two pages of this article discuss three separate filings submitted with the SEC by several hedge fund vehicles monitored by our team.

According to a separate 13D filing, 40 North Management LLC, managed by David S. Winter and David J. Millstone, currently owns 6.16 million shares of Columbia Property Trust Inc. (NYSE:CXP), which constitute 4.99% of the company’s outstanding shares. This is down from the stake of 7.36 million shares revealed in the fund’s previous filing on the real estate investment trust (REIT), submitted with the SEC earlier this month. The REIT owns 27 office properties and one hotel as of December 31, of which one is owned via an unconsolidated joint venture.

Columbia Property Trust Inc. (NYSE:CXP)’s rental income was $436.0 million in 2015, an increase from $414.5 million generated in 2014. The increase was mainly driven by $74.3 million of additional rental income from new properties acquired in 2014 and 2015, which was somewhat offset by a reduction of $51.1 million due to the sale of some properties, as well as by the transfer of the Market Square Buildings to a joint venture in October 2015. The REIT’s 2015 net income totaled $44.6 million or $0.36 per share, down from $92.6 million or $0.74 per share reported for 2014. The 2014 bottom-line figure was positively impacted by a $56.5 million gain on the sale of the Lenox Park Property in October 2014. In February 2016, the company’s Board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.30 per share, which equates to a current dividend yield of 5.74%. A total of seven hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were invested in the REIT at the end of 2015, accumulating approximately 8% of its total shares. Let’s not forget to mention that Columbia Property Trust has seen its market value decline by 21% over the past 12 months. D.E. Shaw & Co. L.P., founded by David E. Shaw, trimmed its stake in Columbia Property Trust Inc. (NYSE:CXP) by 36% in the fourth quarter, ending the year with 732,178 shares.

In a public filing with the SEC, Willem Mesdag’s Red Mountain Capital Partners LLC voiced its disappointment with iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT)’s decision not to accept the fund’s settlement proposal that would have resulted in the appointment of Larry Peiros and Willem Mesdag to the company’s Board of Directors. Let us remind you that Red Mountain, which owns 1.78 million shares of iRobot, sent a letter to the company’s Chairman and CEO in January 2016 offering a settlement proposal that stipulated the immediate appointment of the aforementioned individuals to the company’s Board, an increase in the size of the Board to nine members from eight, as well as the formation of a capital allocation committee. According to the investment firm, the settlement proposal “would avoid an unnecessary election contest at the Company’s upcoming annual meeting”. Nonetheless, the robotics company recently announced the appointment of Michael Bell to its Board of Directors, thus refusing to accept the settlement offer made by the activist firm. “We were surprised by the Board’s announcement yesterday morning, and believe that it signals the Board’s intent to pursue a proxy contest at great expense to its shareholders when a better alternative is available”, said the managing partner of Red Mountain, Willem Mesdag.

iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) generates the majority of its product revenue from the sales of its home cleaning robots, which perform time-consuming domestic tasks. The company also produces defense and security robots that perform tasks that involve battlefield reconnaissance and bomb disposal. iRobot Corporation’s revenue for fiscal year 2015 that ended January 2 was $616.78 million, up from $556.85 million in fiscal year 2014 and $487.40 million in fiscal year 2013. Shares of iRobot are up by 4% over the past 52 weeks. Royce & Associates, founded by Chuck Royce, had 212,000 shares of iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) in its portfolio at the end of 2015.

According to a new Schedule 13G filing, Steven Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management L.P. initiated a stake of 2.86 million shares in Celator Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:CPXX) on March 14, which accounts for 8.3% of the company’s total number of outstanding shares. The public filing does not reveal the prices at which the aforementioned stake was purchased, but the bullish move most likely comes after the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company announced positive results from the Phase III trial of Vyxeos Liposome for Injection in patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (otherwise Point72 would yet again fall under the scrutiny of the SEC for possible illegal insider trading, given such an improbable occurrence as taking a large stake just before an announcement that sent the stock up by 350% the next day).

Shares of Celator Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:CPXX) have skyrocketed by more than 450% since the beginning of the year, thanks to the recently-announced positive trial results. Vyzeos, also known as CPX-351, is a liposomal formulation of cytarabine and daunorubicin designed to treat acute myeloid leukemia. There were three hedge funds in our database that had stakes in the biopharmaceutical company at the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, compared to only one fund registered at the end of the third quarter, so let’s take a look at the handful of funds that managed to make big gains on their investments in Celator Pharmaceuticals (assuming that they did not jettison their stakes before March 14). Ori Hershkovitz’s Nexthera Capital, Hal Mintz’s Sabby Capital and First Eagle Investment Management initiated new stakes in Celator Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:CPXX) during the December quarter. The latter investment firm owned 612,600 shares of the company at the end of December.

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