Metaldyne Performance Group Inc (MPG): Levin Capital’s Latest Move and its Top Three Picks

John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies has acquired 1.23 million shares of Metaldyne Performance Group Inc (NYSE:MPG) and according to a 13G Form filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the fund now owns 3.37 million common shares, representing 5% of the company’s outstanding stock.

Levin Capital disclosed a new position in Metaldyne Performance Group Inc (NYSE:MPG) in its latest 13F filing, the stake containing 2.14 million shares, valued at around $37.17 million. The hedge fund’s latest move indicates it remains bullish on the company, as it remains one of the largest shareholders among institutional investors. Since going public in mid-December, Metaldyne Performance Group Inc (NYSE:MPG)’s stock has gained approximately 18%. The stock has recently received a “Buy” rating from nine brokerages, along with a 1-year consensus target price of $20.28 per share.  In addition to Mr. Levin’s firm, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group is also betting on the auto parts company, disclosing ownership of 795,000 shares as of the end of 2014.

Levin Capital Strategies is a New York City-based hedge fund that was founded by John A. Levin in 2005. Prior to launching the fund, Mr. Levin ran Levin Management Company and held the position of President at BKF Capital Group. Levin Capital favors investments in large-cap stocks, as well as corporate and U.S. Treasury bonds, employing fundamental analysis and a bottom-up stock-picking strategy. Furthermore, the fund’s equity portfolio is valued at around $6.62 billion as of the end of last quarter and it holds around $8.7 billion in assets under management. The hedge fund’s top three picks, according to its latest 13F filing, are represented by Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), Eaton Corp plc (NYSE:ETN), and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE).

We track the activity of hedge funds such as Levin Capital, in order to discover new investment opportunities that small investors can take advantage of. However, simply imitating the moves made by hedge funds does not guarantee great returns, since most of their top picks are large-cap stocks, which usually don’t beat the market by a large margin, since they tend to be more efficiently priced. Hence, we have concentrated our efforts on gathering and analyzing information regarding the small-cap picks of more than 700 hedge funds, which resulted in a small-cap strategy that returned 132% over the past 2.5 years, and beat the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 80 percentage points.