Daily Wrap: The Biggest Hedge Fund Moves of the Day

Levin Capital Now Owns Over 25% of Fluidigm

According to a recent 13D filing with the SEC, John A. Levin‘s Levin Capital Strategies has increased its stake in Fluidigm Corp (NASDAQ:FLDM) to 7.32 million common shares, which account for 25.2% of the company’s outstanding stock. The fund’s stake has been raised from 5.69 million shares, which accounted for 19.6% of the float, as per its previous 13G filing on the company, dated September 30. While the latest filing was on a Form 13D, the fund has not gone activist on the stock, maintaining that its investment remains passive and that its 20% stake necessitated filing a 13D.

Since the beginning of the year, Fluidigm Corp (NASDAQ:FLDM) stock has lost 57.45%. For the second quarter of 2016, Fluidigm disclosed a loss per share of $0.64 and revenue of $28.2 million, worse results than the loss per share of $0.53 and revenue of $28.6 million that it pulled in for the same quarter of the previous year. Recently, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated its ‘Buy’ rating on Fluidigm Corporation’s stock but lowered its price target on it to $9 from $11.

At Insider Monkey, we track more than 750 hedge funds, whose 13F filings we analyze as part of our small-cap strategy. Our research has shown that imitating a portfolio that includes the 15 most popular small-cap stocks among hedge funds can outperform the market by as much as 95 basis points per month on average (see more details here).

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Blue Mountain Snatches Up Gores Holdings Other Class of Shares

Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow’s Blue Mountain Capital recently filed an amended Form 13G with the Securities and Exchange Commission, in which it reported acquiring 374,687 Class A Common Shares of Gores Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:GRSH), which represent 1% of the company’s outstanding stock. Previously the fund held no Class A Shares of the company, but it did report owning 3.03 million units of Gores Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:GRSHU) in its 13F filing for the June 30 reporting period.

As per our hedge fund database, 17 smart money managers that we track were bullish on Gores Holdings (NASDAQ:GRSH) at the end of the June quarter, down by one from the end of March. Some of the investors who reported long positions in the stock contained Nick Niell’s Arrowgrass Capital Partners, which held a position worth $19.53 million, Fir Tree, founded by Jeffrey Tannenbaum, with a position valued at $19.4 million, Neil Chriss’ Hutchin Hill Capital, Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management, and Sander Gerber’s Hudson Bay Capital Management.

We’ll check out two other recent hedge fund moves on the next page of this article.

Adage Capital Adds 900,000 Shares of Independence Contract Drilling

Adage Capital Management‘s stake in Independence Contract Drilling Inc. (NYSE:ICD) has gone up according to a recent 13G filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Managed by Phil Gross and Robert Atchinson, the fund’s holding of the stock stood at 1.45 million shares at the end of the June quarter, and has now climbed to 2.35 million shares or 6.24% of Independence Contract Drilling’s outstanding stock.

As its name suggests, Independence Contract Drilling Inc. (NYSE:ICD) is a company that provides professional land drilling services. Year-to-date, the company’s stock has increased by 11.49%. In its financial report for the second quarter of 2016, Independence Contract Drilling reported a loss per share of $0.12, missing analysts’ consensus estimate of a loss per share of $0.10, and revenue of $15.2 million, beating estimates of $14.8 million. Earlier this month, FBR & Co reiterated its ‘Buy’ rating on Independence Contract Drilling’s stock.

Marcato Capital and Buffalo Wild Wings Continue to Clash

A recently amended 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Richard McGuire‘s Marcato Capital Management has sent a letter to the Board of Directors of Buffalo Wild Wings Inc (NASDAQ:BWLD) revealing its disappointment with various moves made by the company’s management.

First of all, Marcato Capital is dissatisfied with the company’s choice to hire three new Directors on October 6, without any consultation with its shareholders. The fund finds this move to be an attempt to form a fake impression of important changes happening within the company, and yet another act made without the consent of its shareholders. Marcato Capital was also disappointed with the contents of a long-sought list of the company’s shareholders which was finally delivered to it, but which turned out to be outdated and incomplete. Marcato Capital is of the opinion that Buffalo Wild Wings is intentionally hindering communication between its shareholders, and that if it continues to do so, the fund will have to engage in litigation, though it will wait for a response to its latest letter before resorting to that. Marcato Capital still holds 950,000 shares of the company, which amass 5.2% of the float.

Buffalo Wild Wings is a sports bar and casual dining restaurant franchise, known for serving specially prepared chicken wings and sauces. Since the beginning of the year, the company’s stock is down by 10.68%. Among the hedge funds followed by Insider Monkey, 25 reported having long positions in Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) as of the end of June, down from 29 as of the end of March.

Disclosure: None