Hedge fund activity in Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA)
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 78 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a 14% drop from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully (or had already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Viking Global, managed by Andreas Halvorsen, holds the number one position in Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA). Viking Global has a $1.09 billion position in the stock, comprising 4.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is the aforementioned JANA Partners which holds a $1.05 billion position; the fund has 14.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions contain Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management, and Michael Larson’s Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.
Since Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) has experienced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of funds that slashed their full holdings last quarter. Interestingly, John Armitage’s Egerton Capital Limited cut the largest investment of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $370.7 million in stock, and Bain Capital’s Brookside Capital was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $142.3 million worth of shares. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund ownership dropped by 13 funds last quarter.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA). We will take a look at China Life Insurance Company Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LFC), Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX), Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC), and Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB). This group of stocks’ market values match WBA’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| LFC | 7 | 38848 | -2 |
| SBUX | 61 | 1799264 | 7 |
| KHC | 60 | 26202716 | 4 |
| SLB | 51 | 1920800 | -10 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 45 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $7.49 billion. That figure was $6.90 billion in WBA’s case. Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand China Life Insurance Company Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LFC) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio, bearing in mind that its popularity among hedge funds did take a bearish turn last quarter.
Disclosure: None
