Herbalife CFO Looks to Change Investor Views After Years of Activist Pressure (The Wall Street Journal)
Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. ’s new finance chief is working to change investors’ view of the business after years of activist pressure, which abated in January when Carl Icahn – once its largest shareholder—sold a large chunk of his stake and relinquished his board seats. A yearslong struggle between Mr. Icahn and William Ackman, an activist investor who bet against Herbalife’s stock, diverted investors’ attention away from the business, said Alex Amezquita, who took over Herbalife’s finance function in November. “We talked about Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman and all these other things, rather than the business itself,” he said.
Maverick Capital’s Top Stock-Picker Andrew Warford is Leaving the $9 Billion Fund to Run His Own Family Office (Business Insider)
Long-serving Maverick Capital executive Andrew Warford is leaving the $9 billion hedge fund. Warford, chairman of the firm’s stock committee and de facto head of the fund, is departing after 18 years, according to sources familiar with the matter. Warford holds a sizable economic interest in the fund – he has a stake of at least 25% of the firm, according to regulatory filings. Sources tell Insider he will run his family office from Minnesota.
ACI Worldwide Signs Agreement with Starboard to Add Two Independent Directors (Reuters)
(Reuters) – ACI Worldwide Inc said on Thursday it has signed an agreement with hedge fund Starboard Value LP to add two new independent directors to the payments software provider’s board. Starboard, which owns a 7.7% stake in ACI, had urged the company to hire advisers and consider a sale in December, two months after calling it an “attractive” takeover candidate.
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Innovating During Good and Bad Times (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Many quant-focused strategies and managers struggled to varying degrees in last year’s coronavirus-convulsed market environment. Especially in the systematic macro space, many a manager was battling with dwindling performance and pressure on assets under management. “One should expect even good investments to perform horribly from time to time,” quant pioneer Renaissance Technologies wrote in a rare letter to clients discussing its underwhelming 2020 performance. Whereas its Medallion hedge fund, only available to employees and a select group of others, advanced 76 percent in 2020, its three funds open to outsiders incurred losses between 20 percent and 30 percent in 2020.
State Street Urged to Clarify Ban Impact on H.K. Fund (Bloomberg)
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is asking State Street Corp.’s Asia unit to clarify how it plans to address the effect of U.S. sanctions on its $13.5 billion exchange traded fund. The Tracker Fund, which traces the Hang Seng Index performance and is Hong Kong’s most actively traded ETF, includes shares of sanctioned Chinese entities such as China Mobile Ltd. Hong Kong’s de facto central bank said that State Street Global Advisors Asia Ltd. should take all feasible and necessary measures to mitigate impacts on the fund.
Hess Corp (HES) CEO John B Hess Sold $33.2 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Hess Corp, John B Hess, sold 500,000 shares of HES on 02/23/2021 at an average price of $66.38 a share. The total sale was $33.2 million. Hess Corp is an oil and gas company involved in the exploration, development, production, transportation, purchase and sale of crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas with production operations.
A Director at Zoetis (NYSE: ZTS) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
On February 23, a Director at Zoetis (ZTS), Robert Scully, bought shares of ZTS for $1.25M. Based on Zoetis’ latest earnings report for the quarter ending December 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $1.81 billion and quarterly net profit of $359 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $1.67 billion and had a net profit of $384 million. The company has a one-year high of $176.64 and a one-year low of $90.14. ZTS’s market cap is $75.6 billion and the company has a P/E ratio of 46.90.
Thursday 2/25 Insider Buying Report: ATEX, SPOK (Nasdaq.com)
At Anterix, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Monday, Director Leslie B. Daniels purchased 3,000 shares of ATEX, at a cost of $42.88 each, for a total investment of $128,625. Anterix is trading off about 0.6% on the day Thursday. Before this latest buy, Daniels made one other purchase in the past twelve months, buying $57,000 shares for a cost of $28.50 a piece. And on Tuesday, Director Todd J. Stein purchased $85,189 worth of Spok Holdings, purchasing 8,194 shares at a cost of $10.40 a piece. Before this latest buy, Stein bought SPOK at 7 other times during the past year, for a total cost of $777,735 at an average of $10.21 per share. Spok Holdings is trading up about 1% on the day Thursday. So far Stein is in the green, up about 7.3% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $11.16.
‘Rush to ASIC’: White-Collar Whistleblowers to Get Legal Immunity (AFR.com)
Employees who blow the whistle on serious white-collar crime will be eligible for immunity from civil and criminal action under a new policy announced by the corporate regulator – but freedom comes with a catch. Immunity markers will only be advanced to the first participant to disclose criminal conduct to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and will not be available to corporations.
Roku Inc (ROKU) CFO Steve Louden Sold $23.7 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CFO of Roku Inc, Steve Louden, sold 50,000 shares of ROKU on 02/22/2021 at an average price of $473.23 a share. The total sale was $23.7 million. Roku Inc operates TV streaming platform in the United States. Its TV streaming platform allows users to discover and access a variety of movies and TV episodes, as well as live sports, music, news and more.
A Director at Conmed (NYSE: CNMD) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
On February 23, a Director at Conmed (CNMD), Mark Tryniski, sold shares of CNMD for $426.6K. Following Mark Tryniski’s last CNMD Sell transaction on March 07, 2017, the stock climbed by 87.6%. This is Tryniski’s first transaction since reporting a Sell transaction on CBU back in December 2019.
