Paul Singer and Elliott Management’s Top Holdings

On November 14, Elliott Management filed its 13F, disclosing its latest holdings. World-famous hedge fund manager Paul Singer oversees the fund. And in September, the billionaire hedge fund manager made headlines when he acquired a stake worth $3.2 billion in AT&T (T). Elliott included 11 new securities in the fund last quarter. Meanwhile, he exited 18 securities. This article breaks down Elliott Management’s top buys in Q3.

At the end of Q3 of 2019, Elliott’s total portfolio of publicly traded securities was worth around $12 billion. This figure had stood at around $14.9 billion at the end of Q2 of 2019. And at the end of Q3 of 2018, Elliott’s total portfolio market value had been $22.8 billion.

In Q3 of 2019, the top-five buys for Elliott Management were:

1. The Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF Shares (VNQ) put options.
2. Marathon Petroleum (MPC).
3. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) put options.
4. Franco-Nevada Corp. (FNV) put options.
5. Marathon Petroleum call options.

In the third quarter, Elliott increased its stake in VNQ put options, MPC, XLE put options, and MPC call options by 211%, 86%, 70%, and 178%, respectively.

Interestingly, Elliott Management was bullish on integrated refining stocks. At the same time, it was also bearish on XLE. XLE is an ETF that tracks the top companies in the upstream, midstream, refining, and integrated energy subsectors.

The bearish outlook for energy commodities had an impact on XLE’s performance. To learn more about energy commodities, check out Is Chesapeake Energy Destined to Fall More? The crack spread is also important for refining stocks. Check out Marathon Petroleum’s Earnings Rise 49%, Beat Estimate, to learn more.

Moreover, FNV put options were among Elliott Management’s new buys in Q3 2019. FNV constituted 1.5% of the fund’s total portfolio of publicly traded securities. Elliott also added stakes in Carbonite (CARB) and Cision (CISN).

In Q3 of 2019, FirstEnergy (FE), Hess (HES), Altaba (AABA), the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) put options, and Dish Network (DISH) PRN were the fund’s top sells.

Elliott exited FE and AABA last quarter. In Q2 of 2019, these two stocks constituted around 7.2%, and 2.1%, respectively, of its total portfolio of publicly traded securities.

Also, Elliott reduced its holdings in HES, QQQ put options, and DISH PRN in Q3. It pared these stakes down by 58%, 32%, and 83%, respectively.

In Q3 of 2019, Elliott Management’s top holdings were VNQ put options, QQQ put options, Arconic (ARNC), Dell (DELL), and Citrix Systems (CTXS). These securities constituted approximately 10.9%, 10%, 9%, 5.6%, and 4.9% of its total publicly traded securities.

Want to learn more about other famous hedge fund managers’ big investments? Take a look at Where Stanley Druckenmiller Is Bullish.