World’s Biggest Hedge Fund Optimistic on Brazil Economy, Markets (Reuters)
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, has turned bullish on Brazil, arguing that economic growth relative to potential will be the strongest in the world over the next year. Conditions are now in place to reignite the anemic recovery from a 2015-16 recession: foreign debt levels are low, there is plenty room for real yields to fall and market pricing is too pessimistic, Bridgewater said in a note to clients last week. “We expect that over the course of the next year, growth relative to potential will be the strongest in the world,” said strategists at the $160 billion, Connecticut-based fund.
WhiteBox Duo Plans to Launch New Event-Driven Distressed Debt Fund (Bloomberg)
Whitebox Advisors LLC colleagues Cindy Delano and Amit Patel have teamed up to form a hedge fund focused on event-driven and special situations that could arise as credit markets tighten. Invictus Global Management, based in Austin, Texas, is launching its first $500 million alternative-asset portfolio to invest in distressed credit, bankruptcy trade claims and litigation finance, according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg. Delano and Patel will serve as co-chief investment officers.
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GAMCO Investors appoints SVP of Corporate Development (HedgeWeek)
GAMCO Investors has appointed Howard M Green CPA as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development. Green has more than 25 years of experience in leadership roles as a senior financial executive in wealth management, FinTech and international financial firms, including broker dealers and asset managers. Most recently, he was the Global Controller and Managing Director with Cantor Fitzgerald. Prior to Cantor, he was CFO and Managing Director with Convergex Execution Solutions. Green was also the CFO at Canaccord Genuity (Collins Stewart LLC) and Arnhold & S Bleichroeder, both in the asset management space.
Jim Simons Goes Sockless Like Einstein to Raise Money for Princeton Scholars Haven (Bloomberg)
One guest spent the day contemplating quantum gravity. Another recalled walking Albert Einstein to chapel at Princeton in 1933, when he was an 18-year-old freshman. There were plenty of brushes with intellectual greatness at the Institute for Advanced Study’s gala Thursday night at Pier 60 in Manhattan.
New Hedge Fund Group Unites to Push PG&E to Overhaul Management (SeekingAlpha)
A group of investors including Knighthead Capital Management, Redwood Capital Management and Abrams Capital Management unite in a bid to pressure PG&E (PCG -0.6%) into a management overhaul. The hedge funds, which represent nearly 10% of PG&E’s outstanding shares, say they are looking at nominating directors to PG&E’s board and want a say in the selection of the company’s next CEO. The emergence of the new group sets the stage for a potential fight among investors over the future of PG&E, as shareholder Blue Mountain Capital Management already has nominated its own slate of directors.
Breaking Down Hedge Fund Pay in New York and London. And Male vs. Female (eFinancialCareers)
Among the biggest misconceptions about hedge funds is that everyone takes home massive seven-figure paychecks. The fact is, less than 10% earn more than $1 million annually. That said, reaching the upper ranks at a profitable hedge fund can provide a very comfortable financial future – as long as the firm can manage to keep its doors open, something many have struggled to do in recent years. Using data from The Pay Index, a salary database powered by financial recruiter Leathwaite, we broke down average compensation for senior hedge fund professionals – people at the director-level or higher – for both New York and London.
Manulife Wins Battle with Hedge Fund Over Policies with a Guaranteed Return (CBC.ca)
Mosten wanted to load capital into life policy from 20 years ago to get 4% return. Manulife Financial Corp. says it has won its legal battle with hedge fund Mosten Investments over universal life insurance products. Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench ruled Friday that the fund cannot deposit an unlimited amount of money in these contracts to get a guaranteed return of four per cent. Mosten Investment LP had sued Manulife, Industrial Alliance and BMO Life over the policies. Similar suits by Ituna Investment LP and Atwater Investment LP also were dismissed.
Monday 3/18 Insider Buying Report: VBTX, KOP (Nasdaq.com)
Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned dollars to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys. At Veritex Holdings (VBTX), a filing with the SEC revealed that on Wednesday, Director Mark C. Griege purchased 25,000 shares of VBTX, for a cost of $26.00 each, for a total investment of $650,000. Griege was up about 1.9% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with VBTX trading as high as $26.50 at last check today. Veritex Holdings is trading up about 2% on the day Monday. This purchase marks the first one filed by Griege in the past twelve months.
The COO of Installed Building Products (NYSE: IBP) is Selling Shares (AnalystRatings)
Yesterday, the COO of Installed Building Products (IBP), Jay Elliott, sold shares of IBP for $155.8K. In addition to Jay Elliott, 3 other IBP executives reported Sell trades in the last month. Based on Installed Building Products’ latest earnings report for the quarter ending December 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $353 million and quarterly net profit of $16.48 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $300 million and had a net profit of $10.79 million. IBP’s market cap is $1.33B and the company has a P/E ratio of 25.21. Currently, Installed Building Products has an average volume of 605.1K.
Who’s Been Buying and Selling Shares Over the Last Week? (SharesMagazine.co.uk)
Director dealings can provide a useful pointer for investors as management have a deep pool of knowledge about their firm and insider buying and selling can sometimes be an indication of the health of the business. Saying that, investors shouldn’t jump to conclusions when directors sell shares as this can sometimes be prompted by tax liabilities or it may be the first opportunity for management to sell stock which was issued to them many years ago. Over the last week, there have been a few interesting deals including £1.4m worth of shares being offloaded by HSBC (HSBA) executive director Marc Moses partly to cover tax liabilities.
Insider Buys Of The Week: Activision, Arconic, CVS Health (Benzinga)
Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10 percent owners really only buy shares of a company for one reason — they believe the stock price will rise and they want to profit from it. So insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, particularly during periods of uncertainty. Here’s a look at a few notable insider purchases reported in the past week. Activision Blizzard: Activision Blizzard, Inc. ATVI 0.83% saw a director step up to the buy window week. At $42.87 to $43.03 apiece, the 100,000 shares acquired cost that director over $4.29 million. That brought his stake up to less than 110,000 shares, which compares with around 765 million shares outstanding.
Insider Trading Ban Takes Effect in UAE (Albawaba.com)
A ban on the insiders’ trading at public shareholding companies listed in the UAE capital markets took effect on March 17, in compliance with the applicable regulations and rules, a media report said. The Abu Dhabi and Dubai Financial Markets called on listed shareholding companies and brokerage companies to implement the ban until the announcement of the financial statements for 2019’s first quarter, reported state news agency Wam, citing a circular. The move comes in line with to the provisions of Article 14 of the Securities and Commodities Authority’s (SCA) board of directors resolution No. (1) of 2001 concerning trading, clearing, settlement and transfer of ownership and custody of securities.
Gladstone Land Corp (NASDAQ:LAND) Insider Trading Activity – CEO Bought 100,000 shares of Stock (MarketExclusive)
Insider Trading Activity For Gladstone Land Corp (NASDAQ:LAND): David Gladstone , CEO of Gladstone Land Corp (NASDAQ:LAND) reportedly Bought 100,000 shares of the company’s stock at an average price of 12 for a total transaction amount of $1,200,000.00.
