The US stock market is trading higher today as investors remain on the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting next week. This morning a series of economic data was released, however, the data does not provide any clarity on what the Fed will do come next Wednesday. The Fed spooked the markets last week, when one of its more dovish officials said that holding rates too low for too long could cause financial instability. With all eyes on the Fed, investors are expected to be cautious.
However, some stocks are still seeing some interest from investors today, including Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK), McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRX), Acasti Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:ACST), and Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE:HOG). In this article, we will take a closer look at the latest developments surrounding these stocks and will assess what the funds from our database think about the companies in question.
While there are many metrics that investors can assess in the investment process, the hedge fund sentiment is something that is often overlooked. However, hedge funds and other institutional investors allocate significant resources while making their bets and their long-term focus makes them the perfect investors to emulate. This is supported by our research, which determined that following the small-cap stocks that hedge funds are collectively bullish on can help a smaller investor to beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see the details here).
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Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) announced the pricing of its secondary offering of some 11.98 million shares of its common stock, which were valued at $4.30 per share. The company expects the secondary offering to close on September 20 and Star Bulk Carriers plans to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes. Among the funds we track, seven held shares of Star Bulk Carriers, unchanged over the quarter, while the total value of their positions amounted to $91.55 million and amassed 70.40% of the stock at the end of June.
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Follow Star Bulk Carriers Corp (NASDAQ:SBLK)
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) has received final offers from three groups, which include private equity firms Carlyle Group and TPG Capital, for its outlets in China and Hong Kong, according to a report by Reuters, citing sources. The report further added that Carlyle is bidding jointly with CTIC Group, a Chinese state-owned conglomerate, while TPG is joining hands with Wumart Stores. It had been earlier reported that the fast food chain was considering the sale of its outlets in China and Hong Kong and had hired Morgan Stanley as its investment banker to conduct the sale of the business, whose value could amount to $3.0 billion. A total of 63 of the 749 funds we track held $3.03 billion worth of McDonald’s shares at the end of the June quarter, which compares to 83 funds that held nearly $4 billion worth of stock a quarter earlier.
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Follow Mcdonalds Corp (NYSE:MCD)
On the next page, we are going to discuss AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Acasti Pharma, and Harley-Davidson.
