Stocks With The Monday Blues: Windstream Corporation (WIN), Linn Energy LLC (LINE), eBay Inc (EBAYV)

How have hedge funds been trading Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ:WIN), Linn Energy LLC (NASDAQ:LINE) and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAYV)?

Today’s decline of Windstream stock mirrors the decline in interest the firm saw from hedge funds by the end of the first quarter when a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long in Windstream, down by 25% from the close of the fourth quarter. This was reflected in the 23.89% quarterly decline in the total holdings of those funds with positions on March 31, to about $107 million. The stock was down by 10.19% in the first quarter. Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management had the biggest position in Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ:WIN), worth close to $28.8 million and made up of 3.89 million shares, but even Gotham Asset Management’s stake was slashed by 43% quarter-over-quarter. Leading the selloff of Windstream stakes was Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, which sold a position of 3.29 million shares worth close to $27.1 million.

There was also an exodus of hedge funds from Linn Energy as a total of four of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in the firm by the end of the first quarter, plunging 56% from the previous quarter. Holdings also sank during the first quarter by 63.41% to $7.18 million by the end of March. While there were no new stakes taken in Linn Energy LLC (NASDAQ:LINE) during the quarter, there were substantial sales of stakes by hedge funds. At the top of the heap, Renaissance Technologies cut the biggest investment, dumping 912,437 shares, valued at an estimated $9.24 million.

Unlike Windstream and Linn Energy, EBAY witnessed bullish sentiment from hedge funds in the first quarter. A total of 90 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish in this stock on March 31, an increase, although just slightly, of 3% from one quarter earlier. Holdings meanwhile went up by 5.30% to $11.86 billion. The stock went up by 2.78% in the first quarter. It should of course be noted that this bullishness included PayPal’s contribution to eBay, while the EBAYV shares are a headstart on eBay trading without PayPal in the fold. Icahn Capital LP, managed by Carl Icahn, holds the biggest position in eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), of 46.27 million shares totaling about $2.67 billion. Emerging Sovereign Group, managed by J Kevin Kenny Jr, initiated the largest position in eBay Inc in the first quarter holding a $248.4 million position by the end of it after buying 4.31 million shares.

Disclosure: None