3 Must-Buy Stocks That Hedge Fund Ownership Just Doubled On

Every quarter, a small collection of stocks draws the attention of hedge funds like never before, with hordes of talented money managers all buying into them at the same time. Such a burst of buying activity usually signals that positive catalysts have manifested for the company or its industry and that good times are likely to follow, which is why we closely monitor buying and selling trends among leading hedge funds.

Insider Monkey’s flagship “Best Performing Hedge Funds Strategy” has rewarded subscribers with incredible 107.5% returns since its May 2014 inception, crushing the S&P 500 by over 40 percentage points. The hedge fund strategy’s small number of quarterly picks often span a range of industries. In our May 16 newsletter, customer service platform Zendesk Inc (NYSE:ZEN) and pharmaceutical company FibroGen Inc (NASDAQ:FGEN), each of which gained over 10% during the following 2.5 months, were among the seven stock picks for the quarter.

Copyright: designer491 / 123RF Stock Photo

Check out a detailed analysis of Insider Monkey’s past performance and quarterly stock picks for all the details. Our newest picks were just released in the middle of September; don’t miss out!

Below, we’ll check out three intriguing stocks which saw a doubling of their ownership among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey during Q2.

The Stars Group (NASDAQ:TSG)

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders of TSG (as of June 30): 60

Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings in TSG (as of June 30): $1.41 billion

From the end of the first quarter through the end of the second quarter, hedge fund ownership of The Stars Group (NASDAQ:TSG) jumped to 60 from just 26, while the value of hedge funds’ positions nearly doubled as well, to $1.41 billion. New shareholders of The Stars Group included George Soros‘ Soros Fund Management (226,000 shares), Matthew Sidman‘s Three Bays Capital (1.65 million shares), and David Gallo‘s Valinor Management (2.1 million shares).

Hedge funds clearly salivated over the Canadian gaming company’s second quarter acquisition of Sky Betting and Gaming, which came with a price tag of $4.7 billion. The move was a blockbuster when coupled with the Supreme Court’s May decision to legalize sports betting in the United States. On that front, The Stars Group (NASDAQ:TSG) recently launched its proprietary BetStars sports betting platform in New Jersey, becoming the eighth sportsbook in the state. It’s estimated that the U.S sports betting market could grow to as much as $400 billion.

On the next page we’ll look at two other stocks that hedge funds couldn’t get enough of in Q2.