According to regulatory filings, SAC Capital Advisors, run by Steven Cohen, increased its stake in Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) to more than 5%. So far this year, the game maker’s stock has increased by about 18%. However, it is still a far cry from the all-time high hit two years ago.
Cohen owns 5.3% of Zynga
Regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicate that SAC Capital now owns 38.7 million shares of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA). That amounts to 5.3% of the game maker’s outstanding shares. According to the filings, Sigma Capital Management, which is linked to SAC Capital, holds approximately 1.7 million of those shares. SAC Capital holds the rest of them.
This recent purchase is a significant increase in SAC Capital’s stake. At the end of 2013, the firm owned just 15.8 million shares of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA). Now that Cohen’s firm raised its stake to 5.3%, he has edged out Vanguard Capital as the game maker’s largest shareholder. Vanguard held a 5.1% stake at the end of December, reports Fox Business.
Many investors have shunned Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) as it has continued efforts to orchestrate a turnaround. The company has been focusing more efforts on making mobile games as it tries to repeat the success it found in its Farmville franchise, which was originally developed for Facebook.
SAC Capital shifts to family office
Currently SAC Capital is transitioning into being a family office, which means it will only manage Steven Cohen’s money. The firm settled criminal charges of insider trading filed by U.S. regulators. It also paid about $1.2 billion in fines and agreed to stop managing other clients’ assets. The firm did that as of earlier this year. Nine former or current employees of SAC have been convicted of charges related to insider trading. However, officials never filed any charges against Cohen himself.
As part of the transformation, SAC Capital will receive a new name. Cohen is naming it Point72 Asset Management.
