As stated by a recent Schedule 13G filing with the SEC, Daniel Och’s OZ Management possesses an equity stake of 1.80 million shares in PennTex Midstream Partners LP (NASDAQ:PTXP), which represents 9.02% of the company’s outstanding common stock. The hedge fund firm led by billionaire Daniel Och has taken a long position in the newly-listed public company, whose operations and activities are primarily focused on owning, operating, acquiring and developing energy infrastructure assets.
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OZ Management is a hedge fund founded by its current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Daniel S. Och, in 1994. The fund is a subsidiary of Och-Ziff Capital Management, which is one of the largest hedge fund firms worldwide and is one of the few publicly-traded investment firms. Generally, Daniel Och focuses the fund’s investments across a range of investment vehicles including multi-strategy funds, credit funds, collateralized loan obligations, real estate funds and equity funds. The latest 13F filing of OZ Management reveals that it has a diversified public equity portfolio, though the services sector is quite the largest, at 30.3%. In this article we will also take a glance at the fund’s top positions as of the most recent reporting period, which includes such companies as Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT), Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (NYSE:APD) and Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (NYSE:CP).
But first, let’s cover and discuss Daniel Och’s recently acquired stake in PennTex Midstream Partners LP (NASDAQ:PTXP). PennTex is involved in the collecting and processing of natural gas and other natural gas liquids for distribution to industrial, commercial and residential users. At the beginning of this month, PennTex went public on the NASDAQ through its initial public offering (IPO) of 12.25 million common shares, each priced at $20. The common units of this company began trading on the NASDAQ on June 4 and are now trading at $19.80 a share. Additionally, the company issued 30-day greenshoe options that will allow the underwriters for the offering to acquire up to an additional 1.69 million common shares.
As for the reasons why PennTex went public, Thomas Karam, the CEO of the company, claimed that it was the right time for PennTex to access the market, as it has already built a really strong core of assets and has a high-quality set of organic growth projects to be implemented. He also implied that the company will only benefit from the low-cost capital, which is intended to be used for building the company’s infrastructure and for fueling its growth. It’s quite clear that PennTex has identified and developed a few projects with great potential that require substantial investments. According to PennTex’s CEO, the management of the company is confident in the future growth prospects of the company, so it should be expected that the stock will move higher in the upcoming months and years as a result of the company’s growth.
Moving on to the top three holdings of OZ Management, the fund increased its equity stake in Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT) by 320,352 shares, ending the most recent quarter with 3.66 million shares valued at $1.09 billion. Just a few days ago, an analyst from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Sumant S. Kulkarni, raised the firm’s price target on Actavis to $350 per share and maintained its “Buy” rating on the stock. In the meantime, the stock has achieved a 16% gain year-over-year and is currently trading at $298.98 per share, which implies that there is still solid growth potential in the stock. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global and John Paulson’s Paulson & Co represent the largest investors in Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT) from the hedge funds we track, owning 6.11 million shares and 5.64 million shares, respectively.
OZ Management reported the acquisition of 75,512 shares in Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (NYSE:APD), lifting the hedge fund’s overall position in the company to 5.54 million shares valued at $838.41 million as of March 31. The stock has increased by half a percentage point year-to-date despite suffering a significant slump at the beginning of the year. However, the company might boost its performance as it has recently announced that it entered into an agreement to supply bulk gases and bulk specialty gas supply systems for a new semiconductor fabrication plant in South Korea. Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square is the largest shareholder of Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (NYSE:APD), holding a stake of 20.55 million shares.
OZ Management also increased its position in Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (NYSE:CP) by slightly more than 14% to 4.40 million shares, the value of the stake being $805.57 million as of March 31. On June 4, the reputable investment management and research firm, Bernstein, indicated an “Outperform” rating and a $200 per share price target for Canadian Pacific Railway, indicating 20% upside potential for the stock, so it might represent a relatively good buying opportunity. Pershing Square is also by far the largest shareholder in Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (NYSE:CP) from our database, with 13.94 million shares valued at $2.55 billion.
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