Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global disclosed its top three picks for the past quarter in a 13F Form filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the filing, the investment firm was betting the most on Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN), with a position of 8.29 million shares of common stock. At the end of the fourth quarter, the second and third largest holdings in Viking Global’s equity portfolio were represented by Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) and Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) respectively, both the subject of mergers or rumored mergers.
Viking Global is a Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund that was launched in 1999 by the former Tiger employees Andreas Halvorsen, David Ott, and Brian Olson. Between 2005 and 2010, both Mr. Ott and Mr. Olson stepped down from their positions at the firm, while Mr. Halvorsen stayed put and is presently still in charge of managing Viking Global. In its first year of activity, the short/long hedge fund achieved an 89% gain, while returns amounted to 20% in 2009, and to 3.8% in 2010. The global equity fund employs a bottom-up fundamental stock picking method and has a diversified and balanced equity portfolio. The fund disclosed an equity portfolio this quarter with a market value of $21.78 billion, down from $24.9 billion at the end of the third quarter.
According to its last 13F filing, Viking Global’s top pick at the end of the fourth quarter was Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN). Last quarter, the firm’s holding in the company accounted for 7.03% of its equity portfolio with 8.29 million shares of common stock. However, in January the hedge fund had already revealed a reduction in its exposure to the stock, with a 13G filing that disclosed the sale of 103,800 shares. Although it has been betting on this stock for a longer period of time, Mr. Halvorsen’s fund began increasing its stake in the company considerably during the first quarter of 2014.
Viking Global seems to have struck gold by holding Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) as its top pick, as the stock gained 67% in 2014. Furthermore, the company’s latest financial results suggest the positive trend is set to continue. Illumina registered a 32% increase in revenue, achieving a figure of $512 million, compared to the $387 million reported during the same period the previous year. Furthermore, the stock beat the fourth quarter earnings consensus estimate of $0.78 per share, by registering Non-GAAP earnings of $0.87 per share. In addition to Mr. Halvorsen’s firm, Samuel Isaly’s Orbimed Advisors is also betting on Illumina and holds a stake of 1.48 million shares, after increasing its exposure to the company by 9% last quarter.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) was the second largest holding in Viking Global‘s equity portfolio, with a stake of 18.93 million shares. The company began trading on the NASDAQ at the beginning of 2015, following the merger of Alliance Boots GmbH and Walgreen Co. (NYSE:WAG). The merger will result in the creation of the first global pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing company, by combining Walgreens’ drugstore chain, Boots’ position as a leader in the European pharmacy retail sector, and the global wholesale capacities of Alliance Healthcare. Although Viking Global is Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA)’s largest institutional investor amongst the funds we track, other investment firms are also betting on this stock. Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners for example has a stake of 13.75 million shares, accounting for almost 10% of its equity portfolio.
Billionaire Halvorsen was also bullish regarding Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) last quarter. The hedge fund still held a position of 9.07 million shares in the company, though it did reduce its exposure by 890,600 shares during the fourth quarter. The stock has performed rather well, gaining almost 26% in 2014, and seeing share prices grow by an additional 18% year-to-date. The equity is actually trading around its 52-week high of $170.20 per share, while numerous analysts have set a price target of $200 for the stock in 2015. Jeffrey Ubben’s ValueAct Capital is certainly optimistic regarding Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) as well, with it also among that fund’s top three picks last quarter. In fact, Mr. Ubben was appointed to the company’s board of directors and the investment firm holds an activist position of 19.38 million shares.
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