Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: Ray Dalio, Elliott Management, Otelco Inc (OTEL), Intevac, Inc. (IVAC), Appian Corp (APPN), and More

Billionaire Ray Dalio Says People with These 3 Skills will be Successful in the Future (CNBC)
Billionaire investor Ray Dalio is no stranger to success – he’s the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, which manages roughly $160 billion in assets. As constant technological advances and evolving strategies shape the future of business, Dalio tells CNBC Make It three critical skills he believes everyone will need to get ahead.

REFILE-FOCUS-U.S. Hedge Fund Elliott Amps Up Campaigns in Europe (Reuters)
LONDON/FRANKFURT/MILAN, May 3 (Reuters) – U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management is stepping up its activities in Europe, a Reuters review of data shows, as it sees more opportunities to unlock value for shareholders by pushing through management changes, company break-ups and merger deals. Filings with regulators show that eight of Paul Elliott Singer’s activist fund’s 15 disclosed positions in the first four months of 2018 were in Europe, compared to three out of eight in the same period of 2017. Activist hedge funds rarely disclose reasons behind their strategy.

Insider Trading Wall Street Trader Panic

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The Hedge Fund Manager Who Became A Billionaire From Tech (Forbes.com)
With the Nasdaq more than doubling in five years, Philippe Laffont took the stage at the Forbes and Shook Research Top Advisors Summit in Las Vegas in February to talk about technology stocks. You would think an audience made up of hundreds of financial advisors would be used to hearing from hedge fund managers specializing in technology, but Laffont is something of a rarity in the hedge fund world these days. “I truly believe that in every portfolio you need to ask yourself what is going to be more relevant 5 to 10 years versus today,” said Laffont to the group that is putting $500 billion to work.

How billionaire Ray Dalio helped launch McDonald’s Chicken McNugget (CNBC)
Billionaire Ray Dalio is best known as the founder of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world, which manages over $160 billion in assets. But Dalio also has a lesser-known claim to fame: He helped facilitate McDonald’s now-iconic chicken McNuggets. Dalio recently shared the story of how he helped launch the McNugget with Stephen J. Dubner on an episode of the Freakonomics Radio podcast. Here’s how it happened. After graduating from Harvard Business School with an expertise in trading commodities in 1973, he worked on Wall Street for a few years before launching Bridgewater out of his apartment in 1975.

Steve Cohen Giving Point72 That New SAC Smell (DealBreaker)
Four years ago, amidst the, um, unpleasantness, Steve Cohen had to make quite a show of not running a “vertible magnet for market cheaters”/linguistic innovator in the field of insider trading. So he went and hired a McKinsey guy to head things, a new human resources guy to sift the black edge out of the applicant pool and an advisory board for good measure. Well, no one’s heard from that advisory board since the initial press release. And the McKinsey guy’s gone, either because in addition to being the architect of an ethical work environment he was also the architect of a hostile one, or because now that Steve Cohen’s a hedge fund manager again, he doesn’t need a babysitter.

Short-seller Chris Brown Says Wireless Charging Company Energous is ‘Worthless’ (CNBC)
Short-seller Chris Brown is not a believer in Energous’ technology. Energous “is a worthless equity,” he said at the “Kase Learning: The Art, Pain and Opportunity of Short Selling” conference in New York. “Energous is a fraud, one which is burning a lot of cash and will run out of money … We expect the stock will go to $0.” Brown said what the company claims will “break the laws of physics” and has safety issues. He also noted the high levels of insider selling from company management. “The company has no chance to make a commercially successful product,” he said. “The CEO pretty much lies all the time.” Brown is managing member of hedge fund Aristides Capital.

Insider Buying: Otelco (OTEL) Major Shareholder Buys $919,224.00 in Stock (LedgerGazette.com)
Otelco Inc (NASDAQ:OTEL) major shareholder Ira Sochet acquired 61,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.02 per share, with a total value of $919,224.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 736,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,061,494.02. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Insider Buying: Appian (APPN) Major Shareholder Buys $684,603.00 in Stock (MaconDaily.com)
Appian Corp (NASDAQ:APPN) major shareholder Abdiel Capital Management, Llc bought 26,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 26th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.23 per share, with a total value of $684,603.00. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Insider Buying: Intevac (IVAC) Major Shareholder Acquires $618,000.00 in Stock (RegistrarJournal.com)
Intevac, Inc. (NASDAQ:IVAC) major shareholder April Fund Ltd. 21 acquired 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $6.18 per share, for a total transaction of $618,000.00. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Insider Selling: ConforMIS (CFMS) CTO Sells $20,989.00 in Stock (TheLincolnianOnline.com)
ConforMIS Inc (NASDAQ:CFMS) CTO Daniel Steines sold 13,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.51, for a total transaction of $20,989.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 232,307 shares in the company, valued at $350,783.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC.

Insider Buying: Home BancShares (HOMB) Chairman Purchases $426,400.00 in Stock (WeekHerald.com)
Home Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:HOMB) Chairman John W. Allison bought 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.32 per share, with a total value of $426,400.00. Following the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 5,160,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,024,610.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC.