Hedge Funds from Pershing to Blue Harbour Win on Activism (Pensions&Investments)
Many of the biggest activist hedge funds saw blockbuster returns last year as concentrated wagers on companies from fast-food restaurants to real estate paid off. Bill Ackman‘s Pershing Square Holdings posted its best performance on record in its publicly traded hedge fund, climbing 58%, while Christopher Hohn‘s The Children’s Investment Fund notched its largest gain since 2013. Funds led by Alex Denner, Clifton Robbins and Jonathan Litt surged more than 30%, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Starboard Builds Stake in Merit Medical Systems (Bloomberg)
Activist investor Starboard Value has built a position in Merit Medical Systems Inc. and plans to meet with management to discuss ways to improve the performance of the device manufacturer, according to people familiar with the matter. The New York-based hedge fund run by Jeff Smith has built a roughly 9% stake in the company and believes it’s undervalued, said the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. It’s unclear what sort of changes Starboard may push for. Starboard confirmed the stake in a regulatory filing Monday. Representatives for Starboard and Merit Medical couldn’t be reached for comment. Merit Medical, based in South Jordan, Utah, have fallen about 35% over the past year. It cut its financial guidance in July, blaming foreign exchange headwinds, changes in its product mix and its acquisition last year of BridgeWater Medical Inc.
For Under Armour, Is The Only Way Through? (Forbes)
As Under Armour founder and chairmen Kevin Plank unveiled a new brand message – “The Only Way is Through” – SEC filings revealed that in the last quarter a hedge fund made a significant bet on Under Armour’s future performance. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a nearly 7% stake in the company.
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Hedge Funds Could Make One Potential Fed Repo-Market Fix Hard to Stomach (The Wall Street Journal)
One hurdle to a possible fix for recent volatility in the short-term cash markets: hedge funds. Federal Reserve officials are considering a new tool to ease stresses in the market for Treasury repurchase agreements, or repos. Through the repo market, banks and hedge funds borrow cash overnight, while pledging safe securities such as government bonds as collateral. In September, an unexpected shortage of available cash to lend sparked a surge in the cost of repo-market borrowing, prompting the Fed to intervene for the first…
Hedge Funds Up 8.58 per cent in 2019, Recording Their Strongest Year Since 2013 (Hedge Week)
Hedge fund managers were up 1.52 per cent in December, pushing their year-to-date return to 8.58 per cent. The official announcement of the completion of the US-China phase-one deal provided support to risk assets, pushing the global equity market higher during the month. The MSCI ACWI (Local) was up 23.44 per cent in 2019. On an asset-weighted basis, hedge funds were up 1.53 per cent in December, as captured by the Mizuho Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index (USD). The index was up 6.90 per cent throughout the year.
A Stunning Year on Most Fronts (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Danish long/short equity fund Symmetry Invest joined the Nordic Hedge Index only last year, despite portfolio manager Andreas Aaen having already several years of track record under his belt. Symmetry Invest was among the best-performing Nordic hedge funds in 2019 with a return of 44.4 percent. “2019 was a stunning year for us on most fronts,” Aaen summarizes the year. Symmetry Invest, which predominantly searches for founder-led companies in the European small- and mid-cap space, delivered a net return of 44.4 percent last year with an average net exposure of 73.3 percent during the year. Aaen separates the year into two parts.
Tuesday 1/14 Insider Buying Report: EVF, EFR (Nasdaq.com)
As the saying goes, there are many possible reasons for an insider to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy — they expect to make money. So let’s look at two noteworthy recent insider buys. At Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust (EVF), a filing with the SEC revealed that on Friday, Keith Quinton purchased 7,700 shares of EVF, for a cost of $6.49 each, for a total investment of $49,973. So far Quinton is in the green, up about 0.9% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $6.55.
You Are Cordially Invited To Talk Prison And God Over Omelettes With Insider Trader (Deal Breaker)
Are you among the masses of hedge fund managers apparently flocking to south Florida for reasons of lifestyle or compulsion? Have you ever or are you considering some lucrative insider-trading to make the most of your new income-tax-free status? Are you interested in hearing about what might happen if you get caught, and are too lazy to just read this Vanity Fair profile? Well, take a trip on down to Coconut Grove and hear tell the tale of Joseph F. “Chip” Skowron.
House Passes Bill to Prohibit Insider Trading (Think Advisor)
The House passed late Monday the 8-K Trading Gap Act, which would fix a loophole allowing corporate executives to trade on information before it’s disclosed to the public and to their own shareholders. As it stands now if a public company has a “significant corporate event” the company must disclose it to the public by filing a Form 8-K within four days of the event.
The President & CEO of Bank Of Marin Bancorp (NASDAQ: BMRC) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the President & CEO of Bank Of Marin Bancorp (BMRC), Russell Colombo, bought shares of BMRC for $149K. This recent transaction increases Russell Colombo’s holding in the company by 14.3% to a total of $2.99 million. Following Russell Colombo’s last BMRC Buy transaction on April 25, 2019, the stock climbed by 2.2%.
Anixa Biosciences Inc (ANIX) CEO Amit Kumar Bought $59,800 of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Anixa Biosciences Inc., Amit Kumar, bought 20,000 shares of ANIX on 01/14/2020 at an average price of $2.99 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $59,800. ITUS Corp is engaged in developing a diagnostic platform called Cchek, for the early detection of tumor-based cancers. Anixa Biosciences Inc has a market cap of $69.750 million; its shares were traded at around $3.35 with and P/S ratio of 257.70.
