Diligent Market Intelligence’s (DMI) Activism module is keeping a running tab on new positions as the deadline for disclosing portfolio changes for the quarter ended September 30 passes.
P2 Capital Partners sold its $51.5 million stake in Avantax, and its $10.4 million stake in financial services company Envestnet. The firm increased its stake in lab testing company Sotera Health to 1.8 million.
HG Vora sold off its entire $10.8 million stake in Blade Air Mobility and opened a new $31.8 million position in RLJ Lodging Trust and a $69.3 million stake in SeaWorld Entertainment. The activist also trimmed its stakes in First American Financial, Ryder Systems, Mr Cooper Group, Caesars Entertainment and Global Business Travel Group.
Legion Partners Asset Management divested its 1 million shares in former activism target Guess.
Elliott Investment Management increased the value of its portfolio by over $1.5 billion in the third quarter. Elliott’s nine divestments included its holdings in Energy Transfer and Syneos Health. The investor also increased its stakes in Alteryx and NRG Energy, while acquiring seven new stakes including four million shares in Catalent and a holding in tech giant Apple.
Scopia Capital Management added seven new investments, including a $31 million stake in Fortrea Holdings, which was recently targeted by Starboard in a push for operational changes. The investment firm also sold its stakes in Freshworks and Semtech, worth $25 million and $14 million, respectively. Scopia decreased its stake in Indivior by over a million shares.
ValueAct Capital was more active as a buyer than a seller during the third quarter acquiring four new stakes while exiting one – a four million share investment in Altus Power. The investor added Alarm Holdings, Danaher, Illumina and Roblox to its holdings, with the new investments accounting for nearly 6% of its portfolio. The primary focus activist also moved to reduce stakes, downsizing its positions in CBRE Group, Fiserv, KKR, New York Times and Seagate Technology.
Aron English’s hedge fund 22NW added a $1 million stake in U.S. healthcare company Psychemedics, while also exiting a position in Dirtt Environmental Solutions.
Carl Icahn made a number of divestments in the third quarter including a half-a-million-dollar stake in workplace technology company Xerox Holdings. The veteran activist also reduced his positions in Newell Brands and trimmed his stake in CVR Energy. Icahn moved to increase his position in Southwest Gas Holdings with an additional 180,000 shares.
H Partners Management made one change to its portfolio during the quarter, cutting its stake in pet and livestock pharma company Elanco Animal Health by just over 2 million shares. Elanco makes up 5.6% of the activist’s portfolio, with larger positions in Harley Davidson and Six Flags Entertainment.
Hudson Executive Capital divested its $5.5 million stake in U.S. medical device company ViewRay in the quarter with four investments listed in its portfolio.
As Nelson Peltz reportedly considers another board push at Disney, Trian Fund Management increased its stake in the media giant from 6.4 million to nearly 33 million shares. The activist also increased its shares in Wendy’s by over 12 million and acquired stakes in Sysco and Allstate. The fund also exited a minor position in Mondelez International.
Third Point listed 42 holdings in its portfolio and had a busy third quarter with 10 divestments and eight new investments. Daniel Loeb’s firm exited its near-3 million share position in Alibaba Group Holdings, which was worth nearly $250 million. It also exited positions in Advanced Micro Devices, Denbury and Micron Technology. Third Point’s largest purchases included a stake in Meta Platforms worth over $330 million, and a stake in U.S. Steel.
Jeff Ubben’s Inclusive Capital listed nine investments in his portfolio adding a $21.5 million stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories. The fund also reduced its stake in Verra Mobility to 5.5 million shares.
Jeff Smith’s Starboard Value exited 24 different positions during the third quarter which included Abcam, a U.K. biotech supplier which recently secured approval for its sale to Danaher Corp. and Splunk, which is set to be sold to Cisco Systemss. The activist fund made two new investments during the period comprising a minor position in Keen Vision Acquisition and an 8.3 million share stake in Bloomin Brands, where Starboard is agitating for operational improvements.
Jana Partners made two divestments in Q3, selling out of its positions in Laboratory Corporation of America and Leidos Holdings. The firm made one new investment, purchasing an 8.3 million share stake in Frontier Communications Parent, where it is pushing for a sale of the company.
Engaged Capital took a new position in V.F. Corp, acquiring 5.2 million shares, or roughly 1.4% of shares outstanding. The activist has subsequently demanded cost cuts and asset sales. The fund also took a toehold stake in Primo Water. Engaged exited positions in Kratos Defence & Security, Quotient Technology and New Relic. It also increased its stake in Evolent Health by around 50%, to hold around 2.5% of outstanding shares.
Alta Fox exited multiple positions in the third quarter, including The Joint Company, TopGold Calloway Brands and The Bancorp, while reducing stakes in Marriott International, Meta Financial and Hilton Worldwide. It took toehold stakes in six new names, the most substantial being MYT Netherlands and Grindr.
Farallon Capital disclosed 33 new positions in the quarter, with most being minor stakes. Its largest new holdings were 20.3 million shares in Activision Blizzard, or around 2.5% of shares outstanding, a 3% stake in Horizon Therapeutics and a similar size position in Silicon Motion. Farallon increased holdings in Protagonist Therapeutics, Longboard Pharmaceuticals and Beam Therapeutics.
Armistice Capital was busy reshuffling its portfolio, adding more than 80 names and exiting 50. Most were small stakes. Among its largest new investments was a 2% stake in Ironwood Pharmaceuticsals, a 7.5% stake in Rekor Systems and an 8% stake in Eyenovia.
Seth Fischer’s Oasis Management took a new position in apparel company Allbirds representing almost 2% of shares outstanding. The firm sharply increased its position in Asian data canter company Chindata Group, to hold around 18% of the company.
Ancora Advisors’ biggest new investments in the quarter were a $51 million position in Forward Air, amounting to just under 3% of shares outstanding and a $37 million stake in Elanco Animal Health. It exited a position in Dave & Busters Entertainment. Ancora also quadrupled the size of its holdings in Enhabit, to around 3.5% of shares outstanding.
Corvex Management spent close to $50 million to acquire a roughly 6% stake in Liberty Media. It exited a position in AES Corp. The activist increased its stake in Southwest Gas.
Real estate focused activist Land & Buildings took a new 2.5% stake in Tricon Residential worth around $46 million, or close to 10% of the activist’s portfolio. It took small stakes in Equinix, Ryman Hospitality and National Health Investors. It exited positions in Lamar Advertising, Public Storage, Host Hotels and Independence Realty Trust, while reducing stakes in Apartment Investment and Management and Rexford Industrial Realty.
Cevian Capital disclosed a large new position in building materials company CRH. With a value of around $1.8 billion, the stake represents just under 5% of shares outstanding.
Cove Street Capital focused on adjusting its ongoing investments during the third quarter, opening up just three new minor investments in Angi, Tredegar and the Series A convertible preferred stock of Lifecore Biomedical, and divesting from small positions in Chase Corporation and Computer Task Group. The largest adjustment to Cove Street’s portfolio came from a purchase of approximately 1.5 million shares in Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, which now represents 18.4% of its total portfolio.
Although in terms of the names on the books Kimmeridge Energy Management’s portfolio remained the same between the second and third quarters, it did make some significant adjustments to two of its seven total holdings. Kimmeridge reduced its stake in Civitas Resources by over 3 million shares during the quarter, reducing the value of its position by over $130 million. The firm also purchased over 400,000 extra shares of Chesapeake Energy, which now represents nearly 5% of its total portfolio.
Joseph Stilwell’s namesake activist hedge fund Stilwell Value took three new investments in the third quarter, while exiting its positions in First Northwest Bancord and OFG Bancorp, which represented around 1.4% of its portfolio. Stilwell’s largest purchase during the quarter was 153,000 shares in BV Financial. It also bought 23,000 and 40,000 share stakes in Medalist Diversified Real Estate Investment Trust and SR Bancorp, respectively. The new stakes represent 1.6% of the firm’s portfolio.
Bulldog Investors was one of the busier funds during the third quarter, divesting from 34 stakes and acquiring 22 new ones. Bulldog’s most notable sales came from Elliott Opportunity, Infinite Acquisition and Kensington Capital, where it owned 500,000 plus share stakes in each. In total Bulldog sold over 18% of its portfolio. None of the purchases the firm made during the quarter were as significant as its sales, with the biggest purchase being around 350,000 shares in Chenghe Acquisition. In total Bulldog’s new investments represent 8% of its current portfolio.
The Childrens Investment Fund Management (TCI) sold off its entire 11.8 million share stake in Microsoft during the third quarter. The stake was valued at over $4 billion at the end of the second quarter. TCI also took the opportunity to reduce its stakes in Alphabet, Moody’s, S&P Global, and Visa, only increasing its stockholding in Thermo Fisher Scientific by just 20,000 shares.
New York-based AREX Capital Management made two new investments during the third quarter, purchasing 420,000 and 175,000 share stakes in Topgolf Calaway Brands and Cannae Holdings, respectively. The new investments, worth approximately $9 million, represent 6.4% of the investor’s portfolio. AREX also divested from two minor positions in Consol Energy and IAC during the period.
Arnaud Ajdler’s Engine Capital Management made several moves during the third quarter, with the most notable being its near three million share investment into MRC Global, where it has called for the company to explore a potential sale. Engine also acquired new stakes in 2Seventy Bio, Brinks, Gates Industrial, Keurig Dr Pepper, Nexstar Media and RTX, while selling out of Arcbest, Dropbox, Sealed Air and Univar Solutions. Investments made in the third quarter account for over 35% of the firm’s portfolio.
Responsible investor Engine No.1 made significant alterations to its portfolio in Q3, exiting nine stocks and entering six others. The most notable divestment came from Livent, which had previously represented 17% of the firm’s total portfolio – it also sold out of Applied Materials, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, General Motors, and Micron Technology, among others. The standout investments in the period came in Vertiv Holdings and Vistra, which now account for over 45% of Engine No.1’s portfolio.