Viking’s Global Equities Hedge Fund Gains: Hedge Fund Update (Bloomberg)
Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global Investors made money in its main hedge fund last month, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The Viking Global Equities fund gained 1.1%, bringing year-to-date returns to 3.1%, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. That fund oversaw $17.8 billion as of January. Viking’s long-only fund tumbled 4.7% in the period, bringing losses for the year to 3.4%.
Ken Griffin’s Need To Stretch His Legs In New York Knows No Bounds (Deal Breaker)
A year-and-a-half ago, Ken Griffin was having some second thoughts about leasing the most expensive office space in the world. I mean, $300 per square foot is a lot under any circumstances, but especially so when it’s not even for your headquarters and your need for additional square feet at that rate is growing exponentially, while the timeline for completing it is slowing glacially. Since then, however, things have changed. Illinois’ wealthiest man appears to be planning to spend more time on the East Coast, where he’s built up something like three quarters of a billion dollars’ worth of places to rest his weary head, including the most expensive home in the entire United States and a nine-figure beach getaway in the vicinity of those very pricey, very delayed square feet in the very place he fought tooth and nail to keep his ex-wife from living, New York. And so Griffin is apparently content to wait patiently for the flashiest offices in all Manhattan and beyond, if not for world domination in investment banking.
‘It’s Happening Right in Front of Your Eyes’: Legendary Short Seller Jim Chanos Warns Uber and Lyft Investors Over Creative Accounting Tricks He Says are Juicing Earnings (Business Insider)
Jim Chanos, legendary short seller and founder Kynikos Associates, is known on Wall Street for his uncanny ability to spot frauds, Ponzi schemes, and accounting illusions. “There is a dark side to business,” he said on the “Infinite Loops” podcast, an investing podcast. “And there are times when it’s worse than other times.” Chanos says that the fraud cycle follows the business and financial cycle with a lag – and is quick to demonstrate his thinking behind the thesis.
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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Is Under Attack By An Activist Hedge Fund (Forbes)
An aggressive activist hedge fund, Elliott Management, invested over one billion in Twitter and plans to push out it’s unconventional CEO Jack Dorsey. Paul Singer, the founder of Elliott Management (Elliott is his middle name), is well known and feared for his ruthless bare-knuckles approach towards initiating changes in the companies he acquires stakes in. A major issue raised by Singer is that Dorsey holds two CEO positions – one at Twitter and the second with Square, a mobile payments fintech company which he co-founded.
Hedge-Fund Legend Jakurski Holds Sway in Market He Helped Launch (Bloomberg)
André Roberto Jakurski may just be the most important Brazilian hedge fund guru most people have never heard of – and that’s just how he likes it. At 71, Harvard-educated Jakurski is seen as a godfather to Brazil’s now booming hedge fund industry. Several top managers credit “the Jakurski way” with helping them lure new cash as peers abroad increasingly lose out to passive investing or quant strategies. Over a career spanning more than 45 years, he’s traded for George Soros, mentored billionaire banker Andre Esteves, and partnered with future Economy Minister Paulo Guedes to found a bank now called Banco BTG Pactual SA. In 1998, Jakurski and Guedes started JGP Asset Management, one of Brazil’s first hedge funds, at a time when fellow money managers thought, Why bother?
JP Morgan Targets Sustainability Alpha with New ESG-Focused Long/Short Hedge Fund Launch (Hedge Week)
JP Morgan Alternative Asset Management is rolling out a new long/short ESG-focused hedge fund strategy, which aims to generate alpha by trading a range of global sustainability themes – but warns that more work is needed on ESG education within the hedge fund industry. The USD100 million JP Morgan Multi-Manager Sustainable Long/Short Fund will utilise long/short equity managers and high-conviction trades, focusing on companies that lead their peers in sustainable performance as well as those that will benefit from long-term sustainable themes – including energy transition, resource efficiency, empowerment, and technology for sustainability.
All Tom Steyer’s Money (The Wall Street Journal)
Tom Steyer spent more than $250 million of his own money running for President – enough to buy 6,200 Teslas – before dropping out Saturday after a distant third-place finish in South Carolina. His money didn’t win him a single delegate. After making a killing investing in coal, the former hedge-fund manager found climate religion and has spent the last decade bankrolling progressive causes and candidates. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Tiger Global, Coatue Stock Funds Jump in Rout: Hedge Fund Update (Bloomberg)
Tech-heavy hedge funds including Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management jumped in February, trouncing technology stocks that got clobbered in the market rout. Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global gained 2.1% last month in its stock-picking hedge fund, while its long-only fund fell 0.1%, according to people familiar with the matter. Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management gained 0.4% in its Qualified Partners hedge fund, according to one of the people. Its long-only fund fell 2%.
Tuesday 3/3 Insider Buying Report: ET, VZ (Nasdaq.com)
At Energy Transfer, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Friday, CEO Kelcy L. Warren purchased 300,000 shares of ET, at a cost of $10.80 each, for a total investment of $3.24M. Warren was up about 13.4% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with ET trading as high as $12.25 at last check today. Energy Transfer is trading off about 0.1% on the day Tuesday. Before this latest buy, Warren purchased ET on 3 other occasions during the past twelve months, for a total cost of $132.85M at an average of $11.48 per share. And at Verizon Communications, there was insider buying on Friday, by EVP and Group CEO-VZ Consumer Ronan Dunne who bought 18,839 shares at a cost of $53.47 each, for a total investment of $1.01M. Verizon Communications is trading up about 0.2% on the day Tuesday. So far Dunne is in the green, up about 8.6% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $58.05.
Macy’s Inc (M) Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Gennette Sold $600,257 of Shares (Guru Focus)
Chairman and CEO of Macy’s Inc., Jeffrey Gennette, sold 47,190 shares of M on 03/02/2020 at an average price of $12.72 a share. The total sale was $600,257. Macy’s Inc is an omnichannel retailer. It sells merchandise, including men’s, women’s and children’s apparel and accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings and other consumer goods.
The President of Brinker International (NYSE: EAT) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the President of Brinker International (EAT), Wyman Roberts, bought shares of EAT for $150K. This is Roberts’ first Buy trade following 9 Sell transactions. Following this transaction Wyman Roberts’ holding in the company was increased by 2.9% to a total of $5.44 million.
Ryder System: Big Yield, Significant New Insider Buying But Serious Challenges Remain (Seeking Alpha)
Insider Activity & Analyst Commentary: Analysts are not currently sanguine on Ryder’s prospects after its disappointing Q4 results on February. JP Morgan lowered its price target five bucks a share to $42 and reiterated its Sell rating. Stephens kept its $47 price target on Ryder but maintained its Hold rating. SunTrust Robinson did reissue their Buy rating on Ryder but lowered its price target on the stock to $55 from $60 a share. Insiders seem to be more optimistic on the company’s longer-term direction based on insider activity last week. In the first insider moves so far in 2020, an EVP and insider bought nearly $100,000 worth of new shares on February 25th. That same day, the CFO bought just under $490,000. This followed a CEO purchase of $515,000 worth of stock the day before with another director picking up $120,000 in new equity that day as well.
