Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro’s PAR Capital Bought More $ALK

Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro’s PAR Capital filed 13G on October 19th for its 5% passive stake in Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK). The 13G filing shows PAR Capital has boosted its ALK position to 1.81 million shares, from its previous 416 thousand shares as reported in the second quarter. ALK had a strong path before the third quarter, but it was hammered in July and early August and fell by more than 25% during that period. It’s possible for PAR Capital to enter on October 3rd or 4th when ALK showed a recovery signal. After that, ALK has experienced a strong uptrend and now the stock has realized an 11% year to date return. ALK is now priced at about $66.

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, totally twenty hedge funds reported their positions in ALK in the second quarter. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies had significantly more shares than the others. The firm increased its position by 6% and had 1.69 million ALK shares before June. Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro’s PAR Capital took the second place, with 416 thousand shares. Other famous hedge funds also had some small positions in the stock, including Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group with 21 thousand shares, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital with 8 thousand shares.

According to the firm profile on LinkedIn, PAR Capital (also known as PAR Investment Partners) is a hedge fund with over $2.46 billion in managed capital. The firm balances its large holdings in publicly traded securities with related private equity stakes in travel and online media. PAR owns major stakes in United States airlines, broadband access providers, and large Internet portals.

Alaska Air Group Inc. is a serving destinations airline company in the western United States, Canada, and Mexico. The company has two principal subsidiaries: Alaska Airlines, Inc. (Alaska) and Horizon Air Industries, Inc. (Horizon). Through these subsidiaries, the company provides passenger air service to more than 23 million passengers per year to more than 90 destinations. The company was founded in 1932 and is based in Seattle, Washington.