Ashe Capital Is Optimistic About Liberty Media Corp (LMCK), Morningstar, Inc. (MORN), and 2 Other Stocks

Ashe Capital is a New Jersey-based private equity fund run by William Crowley, William Harker, and Stephen Blass. Ashe Capital’s equity portfolio is valued at $951.36 million as of September 30, up by nearly $100 million from a quarter earlier. Those gains can likely be attributed to the fund’s success with its long positions, as its picks returned 11.22% in the third quarter when looking at its 12 long positions in companies which had a market cap of at least $1 billion on June 30. In this article we’ll take a look at some of Ashe Capital’s top picks, including Allison Transmission Holdings Inc (NYSE:ALSN), Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK), Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCK), and Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN).

Out of the 660 funds tracked by Insider Monkey which had long positions in at least five billion-dollar companies on June 30, 627 of them delivered positive stock returns with those long positions during the third quarter. In comparison, S&P 500 ETFs returned just 3.3% during the quarter, so that high a percentage of funds posting gains is a noteworthy feat. However, what we don’t see in 13F filings are hedge funds’ holdings that don’t necessarily do as well: the short-side of their portfolios, as well as their low-yield debt positions. Couple that with demanding fees, and you can see why hedge funds consistently underperform the market net of fees, despite being quality stock pickers.

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Ashe Capital owns over 10.03 million shares of Allison Transmission Holdings Inc (NYSE:ALSN) as of the end of the third quarter. The aggregate worth of these shares was about $287.69 million at the end of September. Shares of the company returned 2.2% during the third quarter. Heading into the third quarter of 2016, a total of 34 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, down by 11% from one quarter earlier. Jeffrey Ubben’s ValueAct Capital has the biggest position in Allison Transmission Holdings Inc (NYSE:ALSN) among those funds, worth close to $539.9 million, corresponding to 4.9% of its total 13F portfolio. Other members of the smart money that are bullish consist of James A. Star’s Longview Asset Management, D E Shaw, founded by David E. Shaw, and Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital.

Ashe Capital decreased its stake in Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK) by 2% in the third quarter, concluding the period with a total of over 6.48 million shares of the company valued at $124.41 million. In the second quarter, the fund had upped its stake in the company by 17%. The moves have paid off, as the stock returned 10.2% during the third quarter. Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK) was in 24 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of June among those in our database. LUK has seen a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months, as there were 33 hedge funds in our database with LUK positions at the end of the first quarter. First Pacific Advisors LLC was the largest shareholder of Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK), with a stake worth $390.3 million reported as of the end of June. Arlington Value Capital, Lansdowne Partners, and Scopia Capital also held valuable positions in the company.

We’ll check out two more of the fund’s stock picks on the next page.

Ashe Capital increased its holding in Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCK) by a whopping 50% in the third quarter, amassing 4.95 million shares of the company by the end of the period. The investment was extremely profitable, as the stock returned 48.3% in the three-month period ended September 30.  At the end of the second quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a 43% fall from the end of the first quarter of 2016, as hedge funds did not time their exits from the stock well. The largest stake in Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCK) was held by Southeastern Asset Management, which reported holding $157.5 million worth of stock at the end of June. It was followed by Berkshire Hathaway with a $94.9 million position.

There were 419,656 Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) shares in Ashe Capital’s portfolio at the end of the third quarter, which means the fund slashed its stake in the company by 37% during the quarter, leaving a $33.26 million stake. The stock lost 2.8% of its value during the third quarter. Royce & Associates was one of 12 hedge funds in our system that held Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) on June 30, having a position worth $80.9 million at the end of the second quarter. Some of the other hedge funds bullish on the company include Renaissance Technologies, Highbridge Capital Management, and Citadel Investment Group.

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