After a solid first quarter that saw all three benchmark indexes rise sharply, equity markets continued their excellent run in the first month of the second quarter. All three indexes finished higher in April.
With stocks at multi-year high levels, the key question investors are asking right now is will there be a correction anytime soon. For retail investors, this question is even more important. One way retail investors can find answer to this question is by finding out what the smart money is doing i.e. what hedge funds are buying and selling.
Institutional investors, including hedge funds, who manage at least $100 million in equity assets are required by the U.S. Securities Exchange and Commission (SEC) to disclose their holdings on a quarterly basis on Form 13F. By checking the 13F filings of major investors, retail investors can get an idea of which way the market is headed.
Several investment managers have already filed their Form 13F for the first quarter of 2013. So here is a look at what some of major hedge funds bought and sold during the first quarter.
Tocqueville Asset Management, a private asset management company managing money for high net worth individuals and institutions, recently filed its Form 13F with the SEC. The filing showed that the fund is betting on two apparel retailers, The Finish Line Inc. (NASDAQ: FINL), and Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO).
In fact, FINL and ARO were the fund's biggest new holdings during the quarter. Tocqueville bought 1,234,000 shares of FINL and 1,098,579 shares of ARO during the first quarter of 2013.
Tocqueville Asset Management also raised its stake in Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) during the first quarter. At the end of the quarter, Tocqueville Asset Management held 2,662,200 shares of MCP.
Tocqueville Asset Management's top 5 holdings at the end of the quarter included Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM), Tocqueville International, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW), and Eldorado Gold Corp.
Donald Yacktman's Yacktman Asset Management added to its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) during the first quarter of 2013, according to the fund's 13F filing with the SEC.
The fund held 41,348,690 shares of MSFT at the end of the first quarter. In fact, MSFT is one of the fund's top 5 holdings. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG), PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP), News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA), and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) are the other four stocks in the fund's top 5 holdings.
During the quarter, Yacktman Asset Management also added to its position in beverage maker The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), and oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM). The fund reduced its position in Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: BBRY), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ), and Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE: CL) among others. It completely sold out of its positions in American Express Company (NYSE: AXP), H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB), and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) among others.
Yacktman Asset Management opened a new position in Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (NASDAQ: SIAL), a St. Louis, Missouri-based life science and high technology company. At the end of the quarter, the fund held 1,244,900 shares of SIAL.
Navellier & Associates, a high level money manager with more than two decades of experience investing assets for individuals and institutions, added several new positions during the first quarter of 2013, according to the fund's 13F filing.
The fund added new positions in Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC), SYSCO Corporation (NYSE: SYY), ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD), Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRL), Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE), and Tenneco Inc. (NYSE: TEN) among others. The fund also added to its position in LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD), American Electric Power Company Inc. (NYSE: AEP), and McKesson Corporation (NYSE: MCK) among others. The fund reduced its position in Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) during the first quarter of 2013. At the end of the quarter, it held just 3,158 shares of WFM.
Navellier & Associates also sold its positions in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), and Ascena Retail Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ASNA).
At the end of the quarter, Navellier & Associates' top 5 stock holdings included Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE: ADS), Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX), Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO), and Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB).
The fund held 510,849 shares of ADS at the end of the first quarter. It held 454,431 shares of Visa at the end of the quarter.
New York City-based Trian Fund Management LP held significant stakes in PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) and Mondelez International Inc. (NASDAQ: MDLZ), at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012, according to an amended 13F filing by the fund last month.
In its original 13F filing for the fourth quarter of 2012, the activist hedge fund, which is headed by Nelson Peltz and Peter May, had not disclosed any stake in either PEP or MDLZ. However, the fund did note in the filing that "confidential information has been omitted" from the filing and this was filed separately with the SEC.
In the amended 13F filing, Trian Fund Management disclosed that it held stakes in both PEP and MDLZ at the end of the fourth quarter. So this was very likely the confidential information that the fund omitted from the original filing.
The amended filing showed that Trian Fund Management held 3,932,663 shares of PepsiCo and 19,415,193 shares of Mondelez at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012.
Following the amended 13F filing, PepsiCo released a statement saying that in recent weeks, the company has held meetings with Trian to discuss and consider their ideas and initiatives as part of its ongoing evaluation of all opportunities to drive long-term growth and shareholder value.