Fidelity National Agrees to Review, Adds Director After D.E. Shaw Pressure (Reuters)
Fidelity National Information Services (FIS.N) on Thursday said it will undertake a strategic review and add a new director to its board after pressure from hedge fund D.E. Shaw Group. FIS also said it would speed up management changes, with Stephanie Ferris, who was scheduled to become CEO in January, taking over the top job on Friday and Gary Norcross, a 34-year FIS veteran who has been CEO since 2015, leaving the company.
In Hedge Fund Pay Dispute, a Portfolio Manager Denies Misconduct (Bloomberg)
A hedge fund manager involved in a multi-million dollar pay dispute with his former employer, Evolution Capital Management, denied claims by the company that he engaged in misconduct following revelations of a criminal investigation into improper block trading. Robert Gagliardi, who is based in London, and ECM have been embroiled in a legal fight that led to public disclosures about his involvement in a long-running probe by prosecutors in New York and federal regulators into coordinated buying and selling of big blocks of stock to influence prices.
3 Energy Stocks With High Dividend Yields That This Hedge Fund Is Buying (Benzinga)
Yacktman Asset Management founder Donald Yacktman was named Morningstar’s “Portfolio Manager of The Year” in 1991 and was awarded the “Portfolio Manager of the Year” by Mutual Fund Letter in 1994. In the third quarter of 2022, Yacktman initiated a new stake in these three energy stocks with solid yields. Pioneer Natural Resources Co (PXD) offers a forward dividend yield of 9.51% or $20.35 per share annually, making quarterly payments with an inconsistent track record of increasing its dividends.
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Off-Third: That New NYU Building Should Really be Named After Sarah Paulson Instead (Washington Square News)
Yesterday, hedge fund billionaire John Paulson gave a $100 million donation to NYU. His name will be plastered upon the university’s monolithic new building on Mercer Street. I have a better idea – there’s a different, far more interesting Paulson who deserves the glory of having thousands of half-asleep, unenthusiastic students pass under a wall bearing their name: Sarah Paulson. Yes, that one. Of the Ryan Murphy Cinematic Universe.
Everyone Wants to be an Activist Investor These Days. Insiders Like Carl Icahn Lay Out Why It’s Not as Easy as It Looks. (Business Insider)
Carl Icahn had a textbook strategy for the Nevada-based energy utility Southwest Gas Holdings. The legendary activist investor purchased almost 5% of the company’s shares in late 2021 and publicly assailed its leadership, winning four of its 11 board seats, the ouster of its chief executive, and an internal review that considered a sale of the utility. But what seemed like grist for a quick and lucrative exit hasn’t unfolded according to plan.
Credit Hedge Funds Poised for Comeback (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Credit-focused hedge fund strategies faced an extraordinarily challenging environment so far in 2022 as credit markets sold off significantly. Despite the underwhelming performance, investors plan to increase their exposure to credit strategies amid a more conducive market environment for active managers. According to a SigTech survey of 119 institutional investors, two-thirds of respondents plan to increase their allocation to hedge funds in the next two years.
Andurand’s Biggest Fund Falters in H2 (Hedge Week)
Faltering oil prices in the second half of the year have impacted commodity trader Pierre Andurand’s biggest hedge fund, with year to date gains having been pared to around 50% following stellar performance earlier in the year, according to a report by Bloomberg. The report cites an unnamed source as revealing that the Andurand Commodities Discretionary Enhanced Fund, which holds about 60% of the trader’s $1.5 billion in managed assets, was up by more than 160% at one point in the summer. The older Andurand Commodities Fund meanwhile, is up 17% so far this year.
Thursday 12/15 Insider Buying Report: SCOR, CDZI (Nasdaq.com)
On Monday, comScore’s Director, William Paul Livek, made a $195,000 purchase of SCOR, buying 150,000 shares at a cost of $1.30 a piece. Bargain hunters are able to bag SCOR even cheaper than Livek did, with shares changing hands as low as $1.25 at last check today — that’s 3.8% below Livek’s purchase price. comScore is trading off about 3% on the day Thursday. Before this latest buy, Livek bought SCOR at 5 other times during the past year, for a total cost of $2.06M at an average of $1.87 per share. And at CADIZ, there was insider buying on Tuesday, by Director Susan P. Kennedy who purchased 75,000 shares for a cost of $2.22 each, for a trade totaling $166,500. Before this latest buy, Kennedy made one other purchase in the past year, buying $38,780 shares at a cost of $2.50 each. CADIZ is trading off about 3.9% on the day Thursday. Kennedy was up about 17.1% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with CDZI trading as high as $2.60 at last check today.
$5 Million Bet On SoFi Technologies? Check Out These 5 Penny Stocks Insiders Are Buying (Benzinga)
SoFi Technologies: The Trade: SoFi Technologies, Inc. (SOFI) CEO Anthony Noto acquired a total of 1,134,065 shares at an average price of $4.42. The insider spent $5.01 million to buy those shares. IN8bio: The Trade: IN8bio, Inc. (INAB) 10% owner BIOS Advisors GP, LLC bought a total of 75,001 shares at an average price of $2.48. To acquire these shares, it cost around $185.91 thousand.
Nuveen Trader Charged in $47 Million Insider Scheme (Bloomberg)
A Nuveen LLC trader was arrested and charged with insider trading for allegedly tipping off another person about the asset management firm’s trades in a scheme that netted them tens of millions of dollars. Lawrence Billimek was indicted Wednesday by Manhattan federal prosecutors along with his alleged tippee, a retired financial professional and day trader named Alan Williams.
