Billionaire Investor Bill Ackman Says ‘Crypto is Here to Stay’ (CoinTelegraph)
Billionaire investor and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman says he remains bullish about cryptocurrencies, despite the recent collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and the market turmoil that has followed it. In a Nov. 20 Twitter thread, the CEO and founder of hedge fund management firm Pershing Square Capital Management said he believes that “crypto is here to stay” despite recent challenges, though there’s a need to increase oversight and remove “fraudulent actors” in the space.
Trian’s Nelson Peltz Eyes Disney Board Seat and Opposes Bob Iger (Axios)
Activist hedge fund Trian Partners has been eyeing a stake in Disney for at least several months, according to a person familiar with the matter, building on a thesis that the company’s past dealmaking has dragged on its performance. Why it matters: The move by Trian into Disney’s stock — together with the fund’s plan to have its founding partner, Nelson Peltz, join the board — puts an added layer of pressure on the company to eventually make some type of strategic move (acquisition/divestiture) at a time when temperature levels are already high.
Hedge Fund Hestia Wants Pitney Bowes to Review Capital Spend, E-Commerce Segment (Reuters)
Hestia Capital Partners LP, which scored big gains on its GameStop (GME.N) bet, is pushing shipping and mailing company Pitney Bowes Inc (PBI.N) to re-evaluate its capital allocation and e-commerce strategy, sources familiar with the matter said. The hedge fund, which owns a 6.9% stake in the company that leases postal meters and pre-sorts mail for commercial clients, has held talks with Pitney Bowes and has suggested a possible sale of an underperforming segment, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
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Former AQR Quant Says Wall Street Isn’t Doing Portfolio Diversity Right (Bloomberg)
How many stocks does a portfolio need to mimic the market reliably? It’s become fashionable to say not too many: maybe as few as 30. New research claims that’s delusional. It’s work by Roni Israelov, a former principal at AQR Capital Management and now chief investment officer for Boston-based financial services firm NDVR. After examining risk and return in model portfolios of various sizes during the 25 years through 2019, Israelov and his colleague Yin Chen found that a fully diversified portfolio needs way more stocks than people think to avoid “unlucky outcomes.”
Steven Cohen’s $24B Hedge Fund Increased Stake In 2 Tech Dividend Payers, Opened 2 Energy Positions (Benzinga)
Steven Cohen is the owner of the New York Mets and is also the founder and hedge fund manager of Point72 Asset Management. Cohen purchased the Mets in 2020 for roughly $2.4 billion, which was a record-breaking sale price for an MLB team at the time. Cohen is also an avid art collector, owning pieces from celebrated artists such as Picasso and Andy Warhol worth over $1 billion. His hedge fund has a total portfolio value of over $24 billion, and a ten-year performance of returning 62.2%, although last year the fund was down roughly 20.4%, according to Stock Circle.
Denmark’s Dividend Tax Lawsuit Heads for UK Supreme Court (Reuters)
The Danish tax authority’s attempt to pursue almost 80 defendants in London over alleged tax fraud, including Dubai-based hedge fund manager Sanjay Shah’s Solo Capital Partners, is heading for the UK Supreme Court, lawyers said on Monday. The Danish Customs and Tax Authority, Skatteforvaltningen (SKAT), alleges Shah and others duped them between 2012 and 2015 into refunding dividend taxes that should never have been paid in the so-called “cum-ex” scandal. Shah denies wrongdoing.
Sculptor and Former Boss Och Settle Dispute (Hedge Week)
Founder Dan Och and other former senior executives of Sculptor Capital Management have resolved a legal fight with the hedge fund by forming a special committee to explore potential transactions, according to a report by Bloomberg. The report cites a statement issued by the new New York-based firm on Friday that the committee, which will be made up of independent directors, will gauge potential interest from third parties “that maximises value for shareholders”. A deal could prove challenging for Sculptor, whose flagship hedge fund is underwater and has grappled with outflows almost every year since 2014. Its stock has lost more than half of its value in 2022.
Insider Trading: November 21, 2022 (BIV.com)
Insider Michael Robert Martin, director. Company: Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:AUPH). Shares owned: 55,475. Trade date: Nov. 7. Trade total: US$154,800. Trade: Acquisition of 30,000 shares at a price of US$5.16 per share. Insider Ross J. Beaty, director. Company: Equinox Gold Corp. (TSX:EQX). Shares owned: 23,988,890. Trade date: Nov. 4. Trade total: $992,250. Trade: Acquisition of 262,500 shares at a price of $3.78 per share.
Monday 11/21 Insider Buying Report: ESAB, INTC (Nasdaq.com)
On Wednesday, Esab’s Director, Mitchell P. Rales, made a $20M purchase of ESAB, buying 500,000 shares at a cost of $40.00 a piece. Rales was up about 15.1% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with ESAB trading as high as $46.02 in trading on Monday. Esab is trading up about 0.4% on the day Monday. And at Intel, there was insider buying on Wednesday, by Director Tan Lip Bu who bought 50,000 shares for a cost of $29.49 each, for a trade totaling $1.47M. Before this latest buy, Tan bought INTC on 2 other occasions during the past year, for a total investment of $1.4M at an average of $27.96 per share. Intel is trading off about 1.4% on the day Monday.
Super Micro Computer, Ryan Specialty And This Technology Stock Insiders Are Buying (Benzinga)
Ryan Specialty: The Trade: Ryan Specialty Holdings, Inc. (RYAN) CEO Patrick Ryan acquired a total of 182,400 shares an average price of $33.86. To acquire these shares, it cost around $6.18 million. Alight: The Trade: Alight, Inc. (ALIT) Director Richard Massey acquired a total of 100,000 shares at at an average price of $8.41. To acquire these shares, it cost around $840.5 thousand.
