Stanley Druckenmiller on Budget Deal: Politicians will Act this Way Until the Markets ‘Revolt’ (CNBC)
Billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller on Tuesday warned that the budget deal struck between President Donald Trump and congressional leaders earlier this week will only add to an already-dangerous national debt problem. “The obscene budget is just another example of an unintended consequence of global central banks cancelling market signals,” he told CNBC’s Kelly Evans in an email.
Whitney Tilson Goes Long on Lumber Liquidators, a Stock he Once Famously Shorted (Yahoo Finance)
Value investor Whitney Tilson has turned bullish on Lumber Liquidators (LL), years after shorting the Virginia-based specialty hardwood retailer’s stock. A few years ago, the company landed in hot water for using potentially poisonous materials in their products. At the time, Tilson became a bear on the stock — but has now completely changed his tune. “It’s very rare. It’s only happened five times in my 20-year investing career where I ever go long something I was once short,” the former hedge fund manager told Yahoo Finance. In early 2015, Tilson appeared on “60 Minutes” with Anderson Cooper during an investigation that found Lumber Liquidators appeared to be selling laminate flooring from China with high levels of formaldehyde. This raised health and safety concerns around the product.
Self-made Billionaire Ray Dalio Pinpoints 5 Words that Show Someone is Closed-minded (Business Insider)
Ray Dalio is the world’s most successful hedge-fund founder. Dalio and Jeff Bezos both agree that intelligence is found in open-minded people, especially those who are genuinely open to revising their opinions. But, as Dalio writes, a conversational mannerism that makes it seem like someone is open-minded may actually be a tip-off that they’re not. Closed-minded people may say, “I could be wrong, but… ” because it allows them to hold onto their own position while seeming like they’re open to others.
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U.S. Hedge Fund Leads Neptune’s $54 mln Private Placement (PEHub.com)
Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc (TSX, Nasdaq: NEPT), a Laval, Québec-based cannabis extraction business, has completed a private placement, generating about $54.1 million (US$41.4 million) in proceeds. The offering was led by U.S. life sciences hedge fund manager Perceptive Advisors, the company’s largest shareholder. A portion of the proceeds will be used to help fund Neptune’s acquisition of the assets of SugarLeaf Labs LLC and Forest Remedies LLC, together a Conover, North Carolina-based hemp company. The US$18 million deal is expected to close this month.
Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein Reportedly Had Close Ties to Barclays CEO Jes Staley and Multiple Wall Street Executives (Business Insider)
Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier charged with sex trafficking of teenage girls this month, had personal relationships with some of Wall Street’s most powerful executives, according to The New York Times. Epstein referred dozens of clients to James “Jes” Staley, a former JPMorgan executive who is now CEO of Barclays, provided personal tax services to Apollo Global Management founder Leon Black, and invested millions with Glenn Dubin, co-founder of Highbridge Capital Management.
Hedge Funds Buy Oil as Price Risks Shift to the Upside (Hellenic Shipping News)
Hedge funds purchased oil last week at the fastest rate for almost a year, as escalating tensions in the Middle East and hopes for a cut in U.S. interest rates outweighed concerns about flagging global growth. Hedge funds and other money managers bought the equivalent of 84 million barrels in the six most important petroleum futures and options contracts in the week to July 16, the largest weekly increase since August 2018. Funds were buyers last week of Brent crude (+36 million barrels), NYMEX and ICE West Texas Intermediate crude (+29 million), U.S. gasoline (+6 million), U.S. heating oil (+2 million) and European gasoil (+11 million barrels).
Why Hedge Funds are Fighting for Control of PG&E — and What it Means for You (SFChronicle.com)
What will PG&E Corp. look like when it emerges from bankruptcy, and who should control the beleaguered company as it tries to rehabilitate itself after causing a series of disasters in the last decade? Two rival sets of investors, many of them hedge funds, think they have the best answers to both questions. Each is angling to get its plan for PG&E’s future on the winning track, and the dispute is headed toward a critical courtroom juncture this week.
Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc (IONS) Chairman & CEO Stanley T Crooke Sold $702,500 of Shares (Guru Focus)
Chairman & CEO of Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc (30-Year Financial, Insider Trades) Stanley T Crooke (insider trades) sold 10,000 shares of IONS on 07/18/2019 at an average price of $70.25 a share. The total sale was $702,500. Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc is the RNA-targeted drug discovery and development company. Its broad pipeline consists of close to 32 drugs to treat a wide variety of diseases with an emphasis on cardiovascular, metabolic, severe, and rare diseases. Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc has a market cap of $9.67 billion; its shares were traded at around $68.88 with a P/E ratio of 27.43 and P/S ratio of 12.75. GuruFocus has detected 2 severe warning signs with Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Tuesday 7/23 Insider Buying Report: BK, TSC (Nasdaq.com)
At Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK), a filing with the SEC revealed that on Thursday, Vice Chairman William M. Daley bought 11,350 shares of BK, for a cost of $44.93 each, for a total investment of $509,921. Daley was up about 3.2% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with BK trading as high as $46.38 in trading on Tuesday. Bank of New York Mellon Corp is trading up about 0.9% on the day Tuesday. This purchase marks the first one filed by Daley in the past year. And on Friday, Director James J. Dolan bought $98,850 worth of TriState Capital Holdings (TSC), buying 5,000 shares at a cost of $19.77 a piece. Before this latest buy, Dolan made one other buy in the past year, purchasing $195,800 shares at a cost of $24.48 a piece. TriState Capital Holdings is trading up about 2.2% on the day Tuesday. Dolan was up about 3.4% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with TSC trading as high as $20.44 in trading on Tuesday.
Insider Activity: Wintrust Financial Corp (WTFC) Board Member Buys $50k in Stock (Investors Observer)
Gary D Sweeney, a member of the board of directors at Wintrust Financial Corp (WTFC), bought 747 shares of the company’s common stock on Jul 19. At $66.92 per share, Sweeney paid a total of $49,989 for the new shares.
Taking Insider Trading Too Far: What’s Left of the ‘Personal Benefit’ Requirement After ‘U.S. v. Martoma’? (Law.com)
On June 21, 2019, Judge Paul G. Gardephe of the Southern District of New York vacated the guilty plea of Richard Lee, a former manager at SAC Capital. Lee had pleaded guilty in 2013 to insider trading, related to the purchase of Yahoo stock based on insider tips about imminent collaboration between Yahoo and Microsoft. Judge Gardephe vacated Lee’s guilty plea because his plea allocution did not establish his knowledge of any “personal benefit” that corporate insiders received as a result of providing him with this confidential information. Judge Gardephe concluded that “under the unusual circumstances of this case,” namely the fact that the personal benefit test had been changed so drastically by the Second Circuit and the Supreme Court between Lee’s plea and sentencing, his plea could not stand. Unfortunately for Lee, however, it is too early to celebrate.
Impinj Inc (PI) CEO Chris Ph.d. Diorio Sold $614,005 of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Impinj Inc (30-Year Financial, Insider Trades) Chris Ph.d. Diorio (insider trades) sold 17,543 shares of PI on 07/22/2019 at an average price of $35 a share. The total sale was $614,005. Impinj Inc provides radio frequency identification solutions. The company’s software includes – ItemSense. Impinj Inc has a market cap of $721.260 million; its shares were traded at around $33.35 with and P/S ratio of 5.54. GuruFocus has detected 3 severe warning signs with Impinj Inc.
The EVP, Operations of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, the EVP, Operations of Schlumberger Limited (SLB), Mogharbel Khaled Al, sold shares of SLB for $583K. SLB’s market cap is $53.62B and the company has a P/E ratio of 25.76. Currently, Schlumberger Limited has an average volume of 10.96M. Based on 8 analyst ratings, the analyst consensus is Moderate Buy with an average price target of $48.67, reflecting a 23.2% upside. The insider sentiment on Schlumberger Limited has been negative according to 98 insider trades in the past three months. This sentiment is lower than the average sentiment of company insiders in this sector.
