Jacob Gottlieb is the manager and founder of Visium Asset Management. The fund was formed back in 2005 in New York, and since then it has raised its assets under management to over $7 billion. Visium Asset Management is equipped with a variety of strategies which helped it make 15% in average annualized returns under different market conditions. As of March 31, the largest amounts of money in the 13F equity portfolio of the fund were allocated towards the healthcare sector with 36.15% of its public equity portfolio in those stocks. This is not surprising, given that Jacob Gottlieb holds a medical degree, which he successfully uses for making long and short bets in healthcare, using fundamental and event-driven analysis. The results of our research, based on a series of backtests we conducted for the period from 2007 to 2012, show that the top-five large-cap picks of Gottlieb have managed to deliver 1.13% average monthly returns, versus 0.22% returns for the S&P 500. At the same time, the average generated alpha for his fund equaled out to 0.40% per month. Therefore, let’s take a quick look at the top three large-cap positions of Gottlieb, in Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN), Perrigo Company (NYSE:PRGO) and CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI).
We don’t just track the latest moves of funds and stocks at Insider Monkey. We are, in fact, more interested in their 13F filings, which we use to determine the top 15 small-cap stocks held by the funds we track. We gather and share this information based on 16 years of research, with backtests for the period between 1999 and 2012 and forward testing for the last 2.5 years. The results of our analysis show that these 15 most popular small-cap picks have a great potential to outperform the market, beating the S&P 500 Total Return Index by nearly one percentage point per month in backtests. Moreover, since the beginning of forward testing in August 2012, the strategy worked brilliantly, outperforming the market every year and returning 135%, which is more than 80 percentage points higher than the returns of the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) (see more details).
Following a 101% increase in the ownership of Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN) during the first three months of the year, Visium Asset Management held 1.46 million shares valued at $435.24 million. On June 4, Bank of America Merrill Lynch reported an increase in the target price of this pharmaceutical giant, lifting it to $350 per share. The analysts believe that the stock still has 14-15% upside, as the growth potential has not been fully priced-in yet. According to our extensive database, which covers over 700 hedge fund managers, Viking Global, managed by Andreas Halvorsen, holds the largest position in Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN) with 6.11 million shares valued at $1.82 billion. The second-largest stake is held by Paulson & Co, led by John Paulson, which owns some 5.64 million shares worth $1.68 billion.
The next in the list is Perrigo Company (NYSE:PRGO), in which Mr. Gottlieb held around 2.00 million shares with a market value of $330.86 million at the end of March. The fund decided to increase the ownership in this stock by 373% during the last quarter, making it an intriguing pick. Over the last five years, the stock of this company has made investors very happy, with returns of over 420%, not to mention the dividends the company has paid out. Nor has that stopped the stock from rising since Gottlieb made his large investment, with shares gaining another 11% in the second quarter. Recently, Perrigo Company (NYSE:PRGO) made several important acquisitions in Europe with the goal being to expand its market share and product portfolio. Some analysts believe that such moves could lead the stock to yet further price appreciation, as the consensus mean price stands at $204.40 versus its current $188.50. Among the other prominent shareholders of Perrigo Company (NYSE:PRGO) one can find OrbiMed Advisors, led by Samuel Isaly, holding a $206.6 million position consisting of 1.25 million shares.
Lastly, the total stake in CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI) in Visium Asset Management’s portfolio amounted to 921,123 shares worth $119.23 million. The $41.74 billion company is engaged in medical, dental, disability, life, and accident insurance issuance, and so far this year its stock has gained 57.65%. On June 20, Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) made a $184 per share bid for the equity of CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI). Yet, it seems that the management of the potential target did not like the 31.40% premium and declined the offer. Several experts believe that the deal is still possible this summer, therefore the shares of CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI) offer attractive upside potential with limited risk, even if the deal does not take place. Perhaps the M&A scenario was anticipated by Visium Asset Management, since it added a mind-blowing 13,078% to the position over the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management, managed by Richard S. Pzena, heads the list of largest shareholders in CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI). Pzena Investment Management holds some 4.72 million shares valued at $610.7 million in the stock.
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