Sprott Asset Management, founded by Eric Sprott, recently filed disclosed its equity portfolio, as held at the end of December 2014, in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In its Form 13F, the fund revealed a total of 138 positions, worth $1.3 billion. The fund had strong focus on finance stocks, as well as on material, technology and utilities stocks. During the quarter, Sprott Asset Management acquired over 30 new stocks, and, at the same, sold more than 25 stocks. Let’s discuss top three holdings of the fund in the fourth quarter. In this article, we will talk about CGI Group Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GIB), Gildan Activewear Inc (USA) (NYSE:GIL), Intercontinental Exchange Inc (NYSE:ICE), which represent in aggregate 7.6% of the fund’s equity portfolio value.
Sprott Asset Management is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. On Tuesday, Sprott Asset Management announced that it made portfolio management changes to certain other funds. A part of the transition strategy, Eric Sprott will step down as lead portfolio manager, but will serve as chairman of the board of directors of Sprott Inc. Mr. Sprott is the largest shareholder of Sprott.
Therefore, in its latest 13F filing, Sprott disclosed that its top position is represented by CGI Group Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GIB), which is a provider of information technology consulting, systems integration, IT outsourcing and business solutions. According to the filing, Sprott increased its holding in CGI Group Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GIB) to 1.06 million shares, worth $40.3 million, from 1.05 million shares reported previously. CGI Group Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GIB) has a market cap of $10.8 billion, and the company’s stock moved up by 18% in a one-year period. Aside from Sprot, Gotham Asset Management, led by Joel Greenblatt, disclosed holding 366,463 shares of CGI Group Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GIB) as of the end of third quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management is also one of the largest shareholder of the company, with 53,580 shares of the company.
Last week, CGI Group Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GIB) announced that its CGI Federal subsidiary won a $2.5 billion contract for delivery of management and enterprise IT services in a single, integrated network for U.S. Navy ships. The contract allows the company to participate in tenders for individual delivery orders over the fixed eight-year term.
Next is Gildan Activewear Inc (USA) (NYSE:GIL), in which Sprott disclosed holding 551,200 shares, up from 548,300 shares the reported at the end September 2014. The current stake is valued at $31.2 million. Gildan Activewear Inc (USA) (NYSE:GIL) is engaged in supply of quality branded basic family apparel. The company’s net earnings in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 increased to $122.7 million, or $1.00 per share, from $96.8 million, or $0.79 per share, for the same quarter of fiscal 2013. Other investor betting big on the company include Greg Poole’s Echo Street Capital Management, which reported holding 535,475 shares of the company at the end of September 2014. Buckingham Capital Management, led by David Keidan, held 382,185 shares of the company as of the end of the third quarter of 2014.
Intercontinental Exchange Inc (NYSE:ICE) was represented as the third most valuable holding, in which Sprott revealed a $30.9 million stake, containing 141,030 shares of the company. At the end of September 2014, the fund reported holding 140,230 shares of the company. Intercontinental Exchange Inc (NYSE:ICE) is a network of regulated exchanges and clearing houses for financial and commodity markets.
Highfields Capital Management, managed by Jonathon Jacobson, reported owning 3.80 million shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc (NYSE:ICE) as of the end of the third quarter. Senator Investment Group, led by Doug Silverman and Alexander Klabin, held 1.55 million shares, as of the end of September.
On Tuesday, Intercontinental Exchange Inc (NYSE:ICE) announced that its subsidiary, The New York Stock Exchange, has made a minority investment in Coinbase, a bitcoin platform with over 2.1 million consumer wallets, 38,000 merchants and 7,000 developers.
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