Since we last reported about shorts disclosed by FSA, which is the UK’s equivalent of the SEC, there have been a number of updates to the list. Lets take a look at the most frequently shorted stocks first.
An oft-seen short bet is on Home Retail Group Plc (LON:HOME). Big names like Lone Pine Capital, BlackRock Investment Managers UK, Newbrook Capital Advisors, Marble Arch Investments, Maverick Capital, and Odey Asset Management have an aggregate short position on 10.47 percent of Home Retail’s outstanding shares. Maverick’s position is on 4.45 percent of Home Retail’s shares, which is so far the largest stake held by a single company.
Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) is currently a short bet of eight hedge funds, the combined stake equals 10.46 percent of the company’s shares. Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advsiors has a holding in 0.74 percent of Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO). BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK), GMT Capital is also shorting the stock. Ocado is down 7 percent in the month of November.
Greenlight Capital’s short bet on Daily Mail and General Trust plc (LON:DMGT) (LON:DMGO) was updated to 4.43 percent of the publishing company’s shares, since our last report.
A shorting favorite is Glencore International plc (LON:GLEN) (LON:GLEN), a total of four asset managers/ hedge funds have a negative holding in the company so far. The shorters include Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (NYSE:OZM), Elliott Capital, Davidson Kempner European Partners, and Pentwater Capital Management LP. The total share is 2.75 percent of the common stock. Glencore is down 1.5 percent for this month.
The Weir Group PLC (LON:WEIR) is held by five hedge funds, the short position is based on 8.44 percent of the company’s outstanding shares. The shorters includes Steadfast Asset Management and AQR Capital Management.
A US hedge fund favorite for shorting is Admiral Group plc (LON:ADM). ADM is up about 20 percent YTD. Names like, Steadfast Capital, BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK), AQR Capital, and Eminence Capital are all shorting the stock.
BlackRock Asset Management, which is one of the world’s largest asset managers, holding $3.67 trillion in various asset types, has opened up about a number of short positions, in addition to the ones mentioned above. The investment manger has a short bet on 2.57 percent of Carpetright’s plc (LON:CPR) outstanding shares. A number of UK funds are also shorting Carpertright, the total position is based on 9.04 percent of CPR’s outstanding shares.
Other bets of BlackRock, include Marks and Spencer Group Plc (LON:MKS),Vedanta Resources plc (LON:VED), Costain Group PLC (LON:COST), XP Power Ltd. (LON:XPP), WS Atkins PLC (LON:ATK), Wilmington Group plc (LON:WIL), Volex PLC (LON:VLX), Morgan Crucible Company plc (LON:MGCR), and Synergy Healthcare plc (LON:SYR), among a number of others.
