Glenview Capital Lost $2 Billion in Assets in About Nine Months (Bloomberg)
Glenview Capital Management lost about $2 billion in assets in less than a year as investors fled a fund that began charging fees after it was initially free. The hedge fund firm founded by Larry Robbins managed $7.7 billion as of March 1, according to a regulatory filing, down from $10 billion in June of last year. At its peak in 2017, the firm ran about $12 billion.
GOP Megadonor Paul Singer Rallies Conservatives: ‘Socialism is on the March Again’ (CNBC)
Republican megadonor and hedge fund executive Paul Singer went into attack mode at a dinner honoring Education Secretary Betsy DeVos this week, targeting what he described as a rising threat of socialism within the Democratic Party. The comments offered a glimpse into the mentality of a powerful GOP donor as he decides how he’s going to contribute to the 2020 election. Singer is a billionaire and the founder of Elliott Management.
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Icahn Discloses U.S. Probe into Sale of Manitowoc Shares: Filing (Reuters)
BOSTON (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors in Manhattan asked billionaire investor Carl Icahn’s company for information about trades in crane maker Manitowoc, Icahn Enterprises disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday, in its first acknowledgement of such a probe. Icahn Enterprises said it received a subpoena after critics questioned the timing of Manitowoc stock sales Icahn, who briefly served as an unpaid adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, made before his administration announced steep steel tariffs in March 2018. Questions had swirled about whether the sales were prompted by inside information about Trump’s plans.
BlueMountain Is Liquidating Its $1 Billion Quant Portfolio (Bloomberg)
BlueMountain Capital Management is liquidating its $1 billion computer-driven portfolio, as it shifts back to focus on its roots: human-run fixed income and credit. The hedge fund’s outside spokesman Tom Vogel confirmed that BlueMountain is selling all of the positions in its quantitative portfolio, but wouldn’t comment on the size of the book. However, two people familiar with the matter say it’s about $1 billion. The systematic portfolio gained 4.4 percent last year, Vogel said. It fell about 1 percent in 2017, according to one of the people.
These are the Stocks Warren Buffett would Buy If He Were a Quant (CNBC)
If Warren Buffett were a quant, what would his perfect investing formula be and which stocks would he buy? For the 88-year-old “Oracle of Omaha,” stock picking has always been about finding the intrinsic value. He’s long been a champion of long-term concentrated bets on big, value companies like Coca-Cola and Bank of America. But if one were to translate his investing gospel into specific quantitative factors and apply them to models powered by artificial intelligence, this is what his portfolio may look like.
Scaramucci Says He’ll Back Trump in 2020 Despite Buttigieg Tweet (Bloomberg)
Financier Anthony Scaramucci says he’ll back the president’s re-election in 2020 — despite tweeting earlier Thursday in support of Democrat Pete Buttigieg and saying some administration policies are bad for business. Scaramucci tweeted that Buttigieg, who would be the first openly gay presidential nominee, “has already won for what he’s done for young #LGBTQ people across America.” Buttigieg and his husband, Chase Buttigieg, are featured on this week’s cover of Time magazine.
Hasbro Inc (HAS) Chairman & CEO Brian Goldner Sold $32.5 million of Shares (GuruFocus)
Chairman & CEO of Hasbro Inc (NASDAQ:HAS) Brian Goldner sold 317,306 shares of HAS on 05/02/2019 at an average price of $102.55 a share. The total sale was $32.5 million. Hasbro Inc provides children and family leisure time and entertainment products and services which includes manufacturing and marketing of games and toys. It reaches customers by leveraging its well-known brands such as Transformers, Monopoly, and Nerf. Hasbro Inc has a market cap of $13.09 billion; its shares were traded at around $104.03 with a P/E ratio of 36.90 and P/S ratio of 2.87. The dividend yield of Hasbro Inc stocks is 2.47%. Hasbro Inc had annual average EBITDA growth of 3.30% over the past ten years. GuruFocus rated Hasbro Inc the business predictability rank of 2.5-star.
Friday 5/3 Insider Buying Report: IPG, WPG (Nasdaq.com)
On Tuesday, Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG)’s Director, David M. Thomas, made a $199,988 buy of IPG, purchasing 8,650 shares at a cost of $23.12 a piece. Interpublic Group of Companies is trading up about 1.1% on the day Friday. And at Washington Prime Group (WPG), there was insider buying on Wednesday, by Chief Executive Officer Louis G. Conforti who bought 22,500 shares at a cost of $4.55 each, for a total investment of $102,447. Before this latest buy, Conforti bought WPG at 4 other times during the past twelve months, for a total cost of $449,581 at an average of $6.30 per share. Washington Prime Group is trading up about 3.8% on the day Friday.
Largest Insider Trades of the Week (Guru Focus)
According to these filters, the following trades were made by company insiders this week. Cottage Holdco B.V., 10% owner of Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY), bought 150,000,000 shares for an average price of $11.65 per share on April 30. The beauty and cosmetics company has a market cap of $8.14 billion and an enterprise value of $15.55 billion. It has insider ownership of 1.02% and institutional ownership of 133.31%. Over the last 12 months, the stock has fallen 32.53%. Shares are currently trading 36.61% below the 52-week high and 83.42% above the 52-week low. Director Frank Kung bought 913,529 shares of Amyris Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRS) for an average price of $4.76 per share on April 29.
The VP, Global Design & Prod Eng of Steelcase Inc (NYSE: SCS) is Selling Shares (AnalystRatings)
Today, the VP, Global Design & Prod Eng of Steelcase Inc (SCS), James N. Ludwig, sold shares of SCS for $138K. In addition to James N. Ludwig, 2 other SCS executives reported Sell trades in the last month. Based on Steelcase Inc’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending February 28, the company posted quarterly revenue of $912 million and quarterly net profit of $22.2 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $773 million and had a net profit of $100K. SCS’s market cap is $2.01B and the company has a P/E ratio of 16.40. Currently, Steelcase Inc has an average volume of 179.3K.
