New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYCB), Exelixis, Inc. (EXEL): Here’s What This $53 Billion Hedge Fund Company Has Been Buying

Canada-based Pengrowth Energy Corp (USA) (NYSE:PGH), an oil and gas drilling and exploration company, offers a tantalizing dividend yield of 8.4% (though that payout has shrunk in recent years, and its stock has averaged 10.4% losses over the past five years). It has been challenged lately by rising costs, and has cut back on its production. It has also been selling some assets lately, to generate needed funds for its high-potential Lindbergh bitumen project and other needs. Look closer before jumping at this dividend, as the payout could shrink further.

D.E. Shaw reduced its stake in lots of companies, including network storage specialist NetApp and recovering drugstore chain Rite Aid.

Finally, D.E. Shaw’s biggest closed positions included Virgin Media and News Corp. Other closed positions of interest include SunEdison and Western Asset Mortgage Capital . Western Asset is a real estate investment trust that has recently been yielding more than 23%. It focuses on mortgage-related investments, and invests in both agency-backed and non-agency-backed ones, upping its risk profile some in exchange for the chance of higher returns. It’s vulnerable to interest rate changes, and an improving economy may deliver those. Upon reporting its latest quarter, management noted, “Since our initial public offering in May 2012 through June 30, 2013, we have delivered an economic return (calculated as change in book value over the period plus dividends paid) of 8%, despite challenging conditions for investing in Agency RMBS. We believe our ability to this result over that time frame is a testament to the strength of our security selection and hedging strategies.”

We should never blindly copy any investor’s moves, no matter how talented the investor. But it can be useful to keep an eye on what smart folks are doing, and 13-F forms can be great places to find intriguing candidates for our portfolios.

The article Here’s What This $53 Billion Hedge Fund Company Has Been Buying originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Selena Maranjian.

Longtime Fool contributor Selena Maranjian, whom you can follow on Twitter, owns shares of Microsoft, Amazon.com, and Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com, Exelixis, Gilead Sciences, Scripps Networks Interactive, and Tesla Motors and owns shares of Amazon.com, Exelixis, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Microsoft, and Tesla Motors.

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