Ackman Exits Positions in United Techologies and ADP (Bloomberg)
Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management has liquidated its positions in United Technologies Corp. and Automatic Data Processing Inc. as the firm builds up its cash reserves for new investments. Ackman has decided to sell his stake in industrial company United Technologies rather than fight its takeover of defense contractor Raytheon Co., according to people familiar with the matter, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. He had vowed to oppose that deal in June, saying it lacked strategic sense.
Hedge Fund Elliott Holds 5.51% Stake in Japan’s Unizo – Filing (Reuters)
TOKYO, Aug 6 (Reuters) – U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management holds a 5.51% stake in Japanese hotel operator Unizo Holdings , according to a regulatory filing submitted on Tuesday in Japan. Japanese travel agency H.I.S. Co last month launched a tender offer for about 40 percent of the shares in Unizo, which operates limited-service hotels in Japan.H.I.S., already Unizo’s top shareholder with a 4.79 percent stake, said it wants to increase its stake in Unizo to as much as 45 percent. Unizo has yet to announce its stance on H.I.S.’s tender offer.
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Low Beta Hedge Fund Strategies Are Set to Outperform, Says Lyxor (Opalesque.com)
Low beta stocks recorded a strong rise as trade tensions escalated at the end of last week, said Lyxor in its Weekly Brief. The defensive risk factor massively outperformed cyclical risk factors such as size and value over the past three months. In the L/S Equity space, few strategies focus on low beta stocks, which typically involve companies from sectors such as utilities, consumer staples, health care, real estate, and communications. However, Market Neutral L/S has a significant bias towards momentum stocks, which are now closely correlated to low beta stocks. “Our defensive stance with regards to risk appetite in a context of decelerating economic growth, weak (or negative) earnings growth, elevated policy risks and the U.S. equity market at an all-time high, led us to upgrade Market Neutral L/S a couple of months ago,” Lyxor said.
Nordic Equity HFs Inch Up in July (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Nordic equity hedge funds posted an average return of 0.4 percent in July (88 percent reported), as the percentage of funds with positive returns reached 60 percent. Equity hedge funds, as expressed by the NHX Equities, gained 4.6 percent in the first seven months of 2019, marginally beating CTAs and fixed-income hedge funds but trailing multi-strategy funds. Nordic equity hedge funds as a group outperformed local equity markets last month but lagged global stock market indices. Nordic equities, as expressed by the VINX All-share index, returned a negative 0.7 percent in Euro terms in July.
The Fall of Barneys Burns a Hedge-Fund Star (The Wall Street Journal)
Some billionaire hedge-fund managers buy sports teams. Richard Perry snapped up one of New York’s most influential luxury department-store chains. Mr. Perry’s passion project—Barneys New York Inc.—filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early Tuesday morning with a financing package in place that closes the majority of its stores. The loan was expected to give the retailer two months to find a buyer, or face liquidation. Barneys’ troubles reflect the litany of woes hurting…
SEBI Plans Up To Rs 1 Crore Reward, Hotline Access For Informers Of Insider Trading (Bloomberg)
Any information on insider trading in the stock market can get the informant a reward of up to Rs 1 crore from the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The capital markets regulator has prepared a detailed set of rules for a new Informant Mechanism under its Prohibition of Insider Trading Regulations and it would be presented for its board’s approval later this month, officials said. An informant would also get a hotline for sharing details to ensure confidentiality and a possible amnesty or settlement for minor wrongdoings in return for cooperation in the probe.
Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) Chairman, CEO and President Jeffrey P Bezos Sold $677.2 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
Chairman, CEO and President of Amazon.com Inc, Jeffrey P Bezos, sold 360,498 shares of AMZN on 08/02/2019 at an average price of $1878.39 a share. The total sale was $677.2 million. Amazon.com Inc is an online retailer. The Company sells its products through the website which provides services, such as advertising services and co-branded credit card agreements. It also offers electronic devices like Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets. Amazon.com Inc has a market cap of $877.21 billion; its shares were traded at around $1773.37 with a P/E ratio of 73.58 and P/S ratio of 3.53. Amazon.com Inc had annual average EBITDA growth of 33.80% over the past ten years.
Tuesday 8/6 Insider Buying Report: F, LNDC (Nasdaq.com)
On Thursday, Ford Motor Co. (F)’s Exec. Chairman and Chairman, William Clay Ford Jr., made a $8M purchase of F, buying 840,962 shares at a cost of $9.51 a piece. Investors have the opportunity to pick up F at a price even lower than Ford Jr. did, with shares trading as low as $9.36 in trading on Tuesday – that’s 1.6% under Ford Jr.’s purchase price. Ford Motor Co. is trading up about 1.9% on the day Tuesday. And at Landec Corp. (LNDC), there was insider buying on Friday, by Director Nelson Obus who bought 20,000 shares for a cost of $10.72 each, for a total investment of $214,400. Before this latest buy, Obus bought LNDC at 5 other times during the past twelve months, for a total investment of $1.25M at an average of $11.08 per share. Landec Corp. is trading up about 0.5% on the day Tuesday.
Altair Engineering Inc (ALTR) CEO James Ralph Scapa Sold $3.7 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Altair Engineering Inc, James Ralph Scapa, sold 90,000 shares of ALTR on 08/02/2019 at an average price of $40.65 a share. The total sale was $3.7 million. Altair Engineering Inc is a provider of enterprise-class engineering software. It also provides services related to its software including consulting, training, implementation services, and support, along with technical services for product development.
The General Counsel of Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the General Counsel of Carlyle Group (CG), Jeffrey Ferguson, sold shares of CG for $822.8K. In addition to Jeffrey Ferguson, 3 other CG executives reported Sell trades in the last month. Based on Carlyle Group’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending June 30, the company posted quarterly revenue of $1.05 billion and quarterly net profit of $154 million.
