Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: Paul Singer, Bridgewater Associates, Healthequity Inc (HQY), Inspired Entertainment Inc (INSE), and a Lot More

Hedge Fund Bridgewater Makes $22 Billion Bet Against European Firms (Reuters)
LONDON/FRANKFURT/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bridgewater Associates has shown its hand in Europe with a $22 billion bet against some of the continent’s biggest companies, filings reviewed by Reuters show, part of a bigger shift by the world’s largest hedge fund manager. Although data was not available to show whether Bridgewater holds more European stocks than it “shorts” overall, an investor in the hedge fund firm’s Pure Alpha Major Markets strategy said that its position was slightly net “long” on Feb. 6. But Bridgewater had reduced that long exposure significantly this year, the investor added. Bridgewater, which declined to comment on its trading, bets on macro-economic events and has $160 billion under management.

Singer’s Elliott Management Cuts Alcoa Stake, Soros Exits (Bloomberg)
Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. pared its stake in Alcoa Corp. by almost two-thirds last quarter and billionaire George Soros’s hedge fund exited. By the end of December, Elliott Management owned 2.9 million shares in Alcoa, compared with 8.3 million the previous three months, a regulatory filing showed. Elliott Management was the third-largest Alcoa shareholder as of the third quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC sold all its remaining 123,787 stake in the aluminum producer in the fourth quarter, a separate filing showed.

Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com

Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital Reports New Stakes in Handful of Big Retailers (CNBC)
David Einhorn‘s Greenlight Capital hedge fund reported new holdings in several big retailers as of the end of December. The fund reported new stakes in nearly two dozen companies, including a 6.2 million share stake in department store operator J.C. Penney, 125,000 shares in Nordstrom and 132,000 shares in Kohls. Greenlight also disclosed a new 103,000 share stake in Signet Jewelers, 451,000 shares in Under Armour, and 103,000 shares in Best Buy. In the same period, Greenlight dissolved stakes in Monsanto, Rite Aid, Hewlett Packard and Kroger.

Amazon Becomes Biggest Position at Steven Cohen’s Point72 (Bloomberg)
Steve Cohen’s family office, which is in the midst of transforming into a hedge fund, boosted Amazon.com Inc. into its biggest disclosed U.S. stock holding as of the end of the year. Point72 Asset Management increased its stake in the online retailer by more than 12 percent, or about 36,000 shares, leaving it with a market value of $383.1 million, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday. Amazon was Point72’s third-largest stock holding in the third quarter, topped by Time Warner Inc. and Altaba Inc., but the firm ramped down both of those positions. Now its second- and third-biggest holdings are in Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Electronic Arts Inc.