Hedge Fund News: Leon Cooperman, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), Apple Inc. (AAPL)

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Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS), Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP)

Hunter College gets $25 million gift (WSJ)
Hunter College has received a $25 million gift from Toby and Leon Cooperman. The gift will be split between a scholarship program and the college’s library. Leon Cooperman is chairman and chief executive of Omega Advisors, a New York hedge fund. Toby Cooperman recently retired from a career as a special-education specialist at the Early Childhood Learning Center in Chatham, N.J. The couple graduated from the school in 1964. Cooperman told The Wall Street Journal (http://on.wsj.com/19Ubixo ) that they’re grateful to Hunter for a first-class education. He majored in chemistry, she in history — for $24 a semester. The college is part of the City University of New York system.

OMEGA ADVISORS

Hedge fund interest increasing in Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) (NYSEPost)
The stock of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) had recently proved to be one of the most popular stocks discussed in the markets. In addition, the hedge fund activities on the stock had also proved to be sending signals of optimism to the investors by the end of the second quarter. It had been observed that there were totally 17 hedge funds which had long positions in this stock by the end of the quarter, which was observed to be around 21% higher than the previous quarter. Further, there had also been heavy increase in investments made by certain hedge fund managers in this stock in the recent quarter.

Hedge Funds Make Apple Top Pick as Main Street Sticks with Google (TheStreet)
Hedge funds have made Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) their top stock holding, surpassing Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN), and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) remains the top holding among mutual funds. Apple narrowly beat out Priceline and iPhone supplier QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) for first place among hedge fund holdings, as of second-quarter data, according to a Monday analysis be Citigroup equity strategists. Google, meanwhile, retained its leading position among the 50-biggest actively managed mutual funds, the report said. The iPhone and iPad maker’s popularity among hedge funds comes as managers such as David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital and Carl Icahn of Icahn Associates press for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to pay out its cash stockpile to shareholders by way of dividends and share repurchases.

Hedge fund activity seen in DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS) (NYSEPost)
The price charts of DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS) had been presenting trends for a major breakout in the recent days which had proved to be of heavy attraction to the stock. Further, the Shipping Index had also been presenting possibilities for high level of movements in the near future. It is thereby expected that the shipping companies would effectively benefit in the near future provided the global economic recovery occurs. Further, there had also been hedge fund movements in the stock which prove to ascertain the possibilities for bullish trend in prices.

20 Stocks Under The Control Of Hedge Funds (BusinessInsider)
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) recently released its new “Hedge Fund Trend Monitor,” giving clients a glimpse into the investment moves and strategies by 708 of the world’s biggest funds. In the report, Goldman lays out the 20 most “concentrated” stocks, meaning a large share of their market capitalization is owned in aggregate by hedge funds. In upward trending markets, buying these 20 stocks has been a successful strategy. …The “most concentrated” stocks lagged for most of 2007 and 2008, but significantly outperformed in 2009 (81.4% vs. 26.5%) and 2010 (15.9% vs. 15.1%). Our “most concentrated” basket underperformed the S&P 500 by 391 bp in 2011 (-1.8% vs. 2.1%) but outperformed by 814 bp in 2012 (24.1% vs. 16.0%).

Right on cue, hedge fund ‘vultures’ are circling Detroit (MLive)
The hedge fund “vultures” that had been setting their sights on Detroit as it slid toward bankruptcy are now circling above its financial carcass. In May, before Detroit filed for federal protection under Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy code, Reuters reported that several hedge funds had begun eyeing the city to invest in some of its debt at firesale prices. Now, it appears the hedge funds are closing in, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press. …”The opportunistic investors are looking to gamble by acquiring some of the city’s distressed debt, sources said. They hope to turn a quick profit when Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr and bondholders reach a settlement in the future.”

Hedge fund rules absent in 16 EU states (FT)
The EU’s move to clamp down on the buccaneering ways of hedge funds and other alternative investments is in disarray with the majority of member states failing to implement the necessary rules on time, research shows. The failure of 16 of the 28 EU states to hit the July 22 deadline for the alternative investment directive raises the spectre of fund companies in non-compliant states being forced to halt alternative fund sales to certain countries or risk falling foul of their regulators.

Mad Money, August 23, 2013 (CNBC)

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