Beech Hill Partners, a hedge fund managed by Paul Cantor, Joseph Weiss, And Will Wurm, recently disclosed at the SEC its long equity positions as of June 30, 2014. The fund’s portfolio is very diversified and has a market value of more than ¼ of a billion dollars. Over the second quarter, Beech Hill started 33 new stock positions, increased its exposure to 41 companies, and sold out of 27 stocks. Let’s take a look at its top holdings for the quarter:
The first two spots in this list remained the same as in the previous quarter, even though the fund decreased its stakes in both of them. Its largest bet was placed on Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB), a $137.3 billion market cap supplier of technology, integrated project management and information solutions to customers working in the oil and gas industry worldwide. Beech Hill disclosed ownership of 80,186 shares –down 3% over the quarter, valued at $9.45 million. This accounts for roughly 4% of the fund’s total equity portfolio.
Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB)’s stock is up 25% year-to-date, and Beech Hill is not the only fund that has profited from this uptrend. Another fund with a large stake in Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) is Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, which last declared holding 3.94 million shares of the company.
Although Beech Hill trimmed its exposure to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9% over the second quarter of 2014, it still holds the second-runner-up position in this list. The fund owns an $8.67 million stake, which contains 93,344 shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) counts with the support of several other prominent investors, including billionaire Carl Icahn, who last revealed ownership of 7.53 million shares.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) escalated from the sixth position in the first quarter, to the third spot in the second quarter, after the fund boosted its exposure by 14%. Having added 13,735 Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) shares to its holdings, Beech Hill now owns 107,900 shares of the company, worth more than $7.2 million. The stock has gained 37.2% year-to-date, and 12.13% between April and June.
The largest hedge fund shareholder –amongst those we track, at Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is D. E. Shaw, which last declared a 53% increase in its position, to more than 9 million shares.
The fourth place in Beech Hill’s list also remained unchanged, in the hands of The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX), a $20.4 billion market cap alternative asset manager. The fund revealed a stake worth $6.9 million, which represents ownership of 206,480 shares, up by 1% over the quarter.
The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX)’s stock is up 11.1% year-to-date, and analysts expect it to continue to rise an extra 17% over the next 12 months. Another fund betting on The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) is Select Equity Group, led by Robert Joseph Caruso, which held 2.37 million shares at the end of the first quarter of 2014.
General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) fell from the third to the fifth position, following the sale of 19,245 shares over the quarter. The fund’s position now comprises 206,480 shares, worth $6.45 million.
Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management and David Shaw‘s D E Shaw hold significant stakes in General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) as well. These funds own 29.4 million shares and 22.8 million shares, respectively.
General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)’s stock is down roughly 7.5% year-to-date. This has opened an attractive entry point for investors, since its valuation at 18 times the company’s earnings stands below the 21x P/E industry average.
Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no position in any stocks or funds mentioned
