These Gurus Hold Alphabet
When hedge fund manager "titans" think alike, investors are wise to pay attention. At Holdings Channel, we have reviewed 6,466 13F filings for the 12/31/2021 reporting period, and noticed that Alphabet Inc (Symbol: GOOGL) was held by 10 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 GOOGL positions for each of the titans that reported holding some amount of GOOGL at 12/31/2021:
| Fund Manager | New Position? | Change In Share Count | Change In Market Value ($ in 1000's) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leon Cooperman (Omega Advisors) | Existing | UNCH | +$13,411 |
| Ray Dalio (Bridgewater) | Existing | -4,478 | -$11,867 |
| Jeremy Grantham (GMO) | Existing | -5,453 | +$25,778 |
| Joel Greenblatt (Gotham Asset Management) | Existing | +1,517 | +$7,878 |
| Ken Griffin (Citadel) | Existing | -360,059 | -$963,529 |
| Daniel Loeb (Third Point) | Existing | UNCH | +$47,386 |
| Larry Robbins (Glenview) | Existing | -50,097 | -$133,898 |
| Jim Simons (Renaissance Tech) | Existing | +13,100 | +$81,884 |
| George Soros (Soros Fund Management) | Existing | -22,767 | -$52,661 |
| Prem Watsa (Fairfax) | Existing | UNCH | +$3,777 |
| Aggregate Change: | -428,237 | -$981,841 | |
In terms of shares owned, we count 2 of the identified titans above having increased existing GOOGL positions from 09/30/2021 to 12/31/2021, with 5 having decreased their positions. Worth noting is that Louis Bacon (Moore Capital Management) — also deemed to have "titan" status — exited GOOGL common stock as of 12/31/2021.
Looking beyond these particular hedge funds of interest, we tallied up the GOOGL share count in the aggregate among all of the funds which held GOOGL at the 12/31/2021 reporting period (out of the 6,466 we looked at). We then compared that number to the sum total of GOOGL shares those same funds held back at the 09/30/2021 period, to see how the aggregate share count held by hedge funds has moved for GOOGL. We found that between these two periods, hedge funds increased their holdings by 1,304,461 shares in the aggregate, from 224,397,352 up to 225,701,813 for a share count increase of approximately 0.58%. The overall top three hedge funds holding GOOGL on 12/31/2021 were:
| » | Fund | Shares of GOOGL Held |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Vanguard Group Inc. | 22,972,466 |
| 2. | BlackRock Inc. | 20,467,504 |
| 3. | FMR LLC | 13,401,789 |
| 4-10 | Find out the full Top 10 Hedge Funds Holding GOOGL | » |
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 Alphabet Inc (Symbol: GOOGL).
