Hedge Funds Are Piling Into Playtika Holding Corp. (PLTK)

Last year we predicted the arrival of the first US recession since 2009 and we told in advance that the market will decline by at least 20% in (Recession is Imminent: We Need A Travel Ban NOW). In these volatile markets we scrutinize hedge fund filings to get a reading on which direction each stock might be going. In this article, we will take a closer look at hedge fund sentiment towards Playtika Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:PLTK).

Playtika Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:PLTK) has seen an increase in hedge fund sentiment in recent months. Playtika Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:PLTK) was in 26 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2021. The all time high for this statistic was previously 21. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. There were 21 hedge funds in our database with PLTK positions at the end of the first quarter. Our calculations also showed that PLTK isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q2 rankings).

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Do Hedge Funds Think PLTK Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?

At the end of June, a total of 26 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 24% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in PLTK over the last 24 quarters. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

More specifically, Tiger Global Management LLC was the largest shareholder of Playtika Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:PLTK), with a stake worth $131.1 million reported as of the end of June. Trailing Tiger Global Management LLC was Hillhouse Capital Management, which amassed a stake valued at $78.2 million. Rima Senvest Management, Citadel Investment Group, and Millennium Management were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Yarra Square Partners allocated the biggest weight to Playtika Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:PLTK), around 3.78% of its 13F portfolio. Rima Senvest Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, setting aside 1.9 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to PLTK.

Consequently, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Renaissance Technologies, created the biggest position in Playtika Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:PLTK). Renaissance Technologies had $9.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management also made a $6.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, and Doron Breen and Mori Arkin’s Sphera Global Healthcare Fund.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Playtika Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:PLTK) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Appian Corporation (NASDAQ:APPN), Sasol Limited (NYSE:SSL), UGI Corp (NYSE:UGI), Credicorp Ltd. (NYSE:BAP), The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD), First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), and Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT). This group of stocks’ market values resemble PLTK’s market value.

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As you can see these stocks had an average of 23.1 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $499 million. That figure was $464 million in PLTK’s case. Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Sasol Limited (NYSE:SSL) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Playtika Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:PLTK) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for PLTK is 73.9. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 24.9% in 2021 through October 15th and still beat the market by 4.5 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on PLTK as the stock returned 19.4% since the end of Q2 (through 10/15) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.

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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.