When hedge fund manager “titans” think alike, investors are wise to pay attention. At Holdings Channel, we have reviewed 6,713 13F filings for the 03/31/2022 reporting period, and noticed that Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Symbol: ATVI) was held by 9 of the particular managers we have flagged as “titans” most widely followed by investors. It is not every day we see this many notable hedge fund managers thinking alike, so we wanted to take a closer look.
Before we continue, it is important to point out that 13F filings do not tell the whole story, because these funds are only required to disclose their long positions with the SEC, but are not required to disclose their short positions. A fund making a bearish bet against a stock by shorting calls, for example, might also be long some amount of stock as they trade around their overall bearish position. This long component could show up in a 13F filing and everyone might assume the fund is bullish, but this tells only part of the story because the bearish/short side of the position is not seen.
Having given that caveat, we believe that looking at groups of 13F filings can be revealing, especially when comparing one holding period to another. Below, let’s take a look at the change in ATVI positions for each of the titans that reported holding some amount of ATVI at 03/31/2022:
| Fund Manager | New Position? | Change In Share Count | Change In Market Value ($ in 1000’s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louis Bacon (Moore Capital Management) | NEW | +100,000 | +$8,011 |
| Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) | Existing | +49,657,101 | +$4,177,087 |
| Ray Dalio (Bridgewater) | Existing | +44,968 | +$3,716 |
| Jeremy Grantham (GMO) | NEW | +688,167 | +$55,129 |
| Joel Greenblatt (Gotham Asset Management) | Existing | –27,648 | –$216 |
| Ken Griffin (Citadel) | Existing | +1,349,084 | +$113,997 |
| Larry Robbins (Glenview) | Existing | UNCH | +$4,198 |
| Jim Simons (Renaissance Tech) | NEW | +3,515,598 | +$281,635 |
| Prem Watsa (Fairfax) | NEW | +75,400 | +$6,043 |
| Aggregate Change: | +55,402,670 | +$4,649,600 | |
In terms of shares owned, we count 3 of the identified titans above having increased existing ATVI positions from 12/31/2021 to 03/31/2022, with 1 having decreased their position and 4 new positions. Worth noting is that George Soros (Soros Fund Management) — also deemed to have “titan” status — exited ATVI common stock as of 03/31/2022.
Looking beyond these particular hedge funds of interest, we tallied up the ATVI share count in the aggregate among all of the funds which held ATVI at the 03/31/2022 reporting period (out of the 6,713 we looked at). We then compared that number to the sum total of ATVI shares those same funds held back at the 12/31/2021 period, to see how the aggregate share count held by hedge funds has moved for ATVI. We found that between these two periods, hedge funds reduced their holdings by 23,770,001 shares in the aggregate, from 652,600,226 down to 628,830,225 for a share count decline of approximately -3.64%. The overall top three hedge funds holding ATVI on 03/31/2022 were:
We’ll keep following the latest 13F filings by hedge fund managers and bring you interesting stories derived from a look at the aggregate information across groups of managers between filing periods. While looking at individual 13F filings can sometimes be misleading due to the long-only nature of the information, the sum total across groups of funds from one reporting period to another can be a lot more revealing and relevant, providing interesting stock ideas that merit further research, like Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Symbol: ATVI).
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.