High-Dividend Stocks That Hedge Funds Are Fleeing

#3 Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB)

Investors with Long Positions (as of September 30): 73

Aggregate Value of Investors’ Holdings (as of September 30): $604.75 Million

Current Dividend Yield: 8.24%

Weak commodity prices have ensured that the decline that Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB)’s stock started at the beginning of the third quarter has continued till now, expanding its drop to 30% year-to-date. The number of hedge funds covered by Insider Monkey that reported owning a stake in the company came down by 13 during the third quarter, while the aggregate value of their holdings, which saw a drop of over $4.5 billion during the same period. In late-September, Energy Transfer Equity LP (NYSE:ETE) had announced that it would be buying Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) for $33 billion. Interestingly, in June, Williams Companies Inc had rejected Energy Transfer Equity LP (NYSE:ETE)’s proposal for the same deal at an implied value of $53.3 billion. On December 3, analysts at Jefferies Group reiterated their ‘Hold’ rating on the stock, while lowering their price target on it to $35 from $46. With ownership of over 41.6 million shares of the company, Keith Meister‘s Corvex Capital remained Williams Companies’ largest shareholder among the funds tracked by us at the end of September.

#2 TerraForm Power Inc (NASDAQ:TERP)

Investors with Long Positions (as of September 30): 31

Aggregate Value of Investors’ Holdings (as of September 30): $476.6 Million

Current Dividend Yield: 8.23%

TerraForm Power Inc (NASDAQ:TERP) [formerly SunEdison Yieldco, Inc.] has lost more than 75% of its value since July mostly because of investors losing faith in its parent company Sunedison Inc (NYSE:SUNE), which is itself down over 80% year-to-date. The number of hedge funds that were long the stock declined by 15 and the aggregate value of hedge funds’ holdings in the company dropped by over $612 million during the third quarter. On November 9, the company reported its third-quarter results, declaring a per share loss of $0.03 on revenue of $153 million, versus analysts’ expectations of EPS of $0.18 on revenue of $144.62 million. Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow‘s Blue Mountain Capital purchased over 5 million shares of the company at the end of the third quarter and ended up becoming its largest shareholder among the funds we track at the end of that period.

#1 General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)

Investors with Long Positions (as of September 30): 88

Aggregate Value of Investors’ Holdings (as of September 30): $5.1 Billion

Current Dividend Yield: 3.97%

Although its stock declined by 8.8% and the aggregate value of investors’ holdings came down by only 11.6%, the number of investors that revealed owning a stake in General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) dropped by 16 during the third quarter. Interestingly, it was at the end of the third quarter that the company settled its ignition switch probe for $900 million and put a rest to months of uncertainty among investors regarding the fine it will have to pay. After this settlement was announced investors regained their confidence in the stock, helping General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) make a swift recovery in the fourth quarter and bounce back in the green with year-to-date gains of nearly 4% currently. On December 3 analysts at Citigroup reiterated their ‘Buy’ rating and $50 price target on the stock, which represents a potential upside of 38% from the stock’s current trading price. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in General Motors Company by 22% to exactly 50 million shares during the July-September period.

Disclosure: None