PartnerRe, Citigroup Topped The List of Largest # of Reduced Positions

A few days ago, I wrote an article titled "Institutional Investors Loved These Ten Stocks The Most Last Quarter".

The article listed the ten stocks that the largest number of institutional investors in our database owned (JP Morgan and Co led the pack with 50 of a total 97 funds owning shares), as well as the top ten stocks that had the largest number of additions to existing fund positions (Adobe Systems Inc led this list, as 16 funds decided to add to their existing ADBE positions, while only 2 funds decided to reduce).

So, in this article, I thought that I would take a look at:

The stocks that had the largest number of reductions to existing fund positions during Q1/2010 (for instance, if a hedge fund decided to reduce their position in a stock from 1 million shares to 500,000 shares)

To calculate this data, I used the following formula for every single one of the 9,500+ different securities that were being held by the 97 funds in our database last quarter. The formula looks like this:

(Total Number of Funds That Added to Existing Positions) - (Total Number of Funds That Reduced Existing Positions) = Net Change

So, for instance, if 3 funds decided to add to their existing XYZ positions last quarter, and 14 funds decided to reduce their existing XYZ positions last quarter, then we would be left with a "net change" number of -11.

Now, let's look at the top 25 list ranked by Net Change in Total Positions:

Name | Symbol | Net Change

PartnerRe Ltd. | PRE | -12
Citigroup Inc. | C | -12
Goldman Sachs Group Inc | GS | -11
Carnival Corporation | CCL | -11
Public Service Enterprise Grp | PEG | -11
Qwest Communications Internati | Q | -9
Forest Laboratories Inc. | FRX | -9
Del Monte Foods Co | DLM | -9
CVS Caremark Corp. | CVS | -9
AmerisourceBergen Corp | ABC | -9
Family Dollar Stores | FDO | -9
Delta Air Lines, Inc. | DAL | -9
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. | CDNS | -9
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company | BMY | -9
Wellpoint, Inc. | WLP | -8
Sonoco Products Co. | SON | -8
Dun & Bradstreet Corp. | DNB | -8
TCF Financial Corp | TCB | -8
Nucor Corporation | NUE | -8
SPDR GOLD TRUST | GLD | -7
Procter & Gamble Company | PG | -7
Newmont Mining Corporation | NEM | -7
T. Rowe Price Group Inc. | TROW | -7
Shaw Group Inc. | SHAW | -7
Millipore Corporation | MIL | -7

So, let's clarify what this information means for a second using Citigroup as an example.

In Q1/2010, 20 of the 97 funds that we track in our database decided to reduce their existing positions in Citigroup, while 8 decided to increase their positions. This left us with a "net change" number of -12.

Some of the 97 funds that we track in our database include SAC Capital, Paulson & Co, Goldman Sachs, Berkshire Hathaway and Citadel Advisors.

In addition, 13 of the 97 funds in our database decided to COMPLETELY exit their positions in Citigroup. So that means that 33 of the 97 funds in our database chose to either reduce their positions in C, or completely sell.

This is a stark change from the previous couple of quarters when funds were snapping up all of the C shares that they could afford.

Another stock that popped out at me from this list - Goldman Sachs. 21 of the funds in our database decided to reduce their positions in the company last quarter, while 10 decided to keep buying. What makes this data even more interesting is that JPMorgan Chase & Co. was the second most ADDED TO position during Q1/2010 (+13 net change).

Source: Q1/2010 Manuel Fund Report

Filed under: Hedge Fund News