Regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that Eminence Capital now has a 5.1% stake in Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), amounting to more than 38 million shares of the mobile gaming company. As of the end of the second quarter Eminence had about 26.53 million shares of Zynga, according to the firm’s 13F filing with the SEC.
Eminence raises Zynga stake
That means the firm has added more than 11.5 million more shares of Zynga to its holdings since the end of June. Eminence completed its transactions on Aug. 21. That stake is a passive stake, according to the regulatory filing.
Eminence isn’t the only hedge fund that’s betting big on Zynga right now. Other big funds with meaningfully sized stakes in Zynga are Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global and William Martin’s Raging Capital Management. Viking Global held nearly 26 million shares as of its last regulatory filing, while Raging Capital held almost 20 million shares as of its filing.
Shares of Zynga rose more than 1% in regular trading today, bringing the game maker’s stock to a closing price of $3.05 per share. The company’s market capitalization is $2.71 billion. The average consensus rating on Zynga is Hold, and the average target price is $3.62 per share.
Zynga unveils NFL Showdown
The big thing that has been holding investors and analysts back on Zynga is its lack of any sign of another hit game being on the horizon. Today the company rolled out a fantasy football like game called NFL Showdown. The app is now available on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s App Store for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch and on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Play store.
The game is the first of a series of sports-themed games Zynga is planning under its Sports 365 franchise. In NFL Showdown, players can compete with others in their fantasy football league and try to get to the Super Bowl.
The game offers daily showdowns, the ability to build and control players’ own dream teams and real-time in-game fantasy boosts that will increase their chances of coming out ahead at the end of the season. There will also be a Super Bowl every three weeks, thus speeding up the season and enabling players to continually build and improve their team at a fast pace.
