Green Plains Inc (GPRE), Apple Inc. (AAPL): Ken Griffin’s Latest Moves and Massive Put Position

Lastly, we come to Ken Griffin’s large put position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Last week we covered which companies had the most put positions among funds we track, and discovered that Apple landed in fifth spot on that list. We concluded however that in the case of Apple, the put options on it were largely as hedges against either long positions in Apple, or long positions in other intrinsically related equities.

Ken Griffin’s case is somewhat unique in that his Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) put options are the most valuable holding in his massive $82.66 billion portfolio. Nor is this a new phenomenon; Apple put positions have topped his portfolio for the last year, and put or call options of Apple have dominated his portfolio for much of the past four years. In fact Griffin’s put and call options on Apple have made up much more sizable portions of his portfolio in the past, as much as 16% combined.

Griffin held 9.68 million shares equivalent of Apple put options. He likewise cut his stake underlying call options and the long position in Apple quite significantly as well, by 33% and 51% respectively. It’s possible that with Apple on the verge of entering new business segments in the coming years, including automobiles, that the stock becomes a much less useful hedge against specific sectors of Griffin’s portfolio, which is why he’s beginning to lean on it less. We’ll see if the trend throughout this quarter.

Disclosure: None