Want to know what the smartest hedge fund managers are doing? Street of Walls compiled data from 13F SEC filings in order to analyze how the top hedge fund managers have made changes to their portfolios.

We analyzed top hedge funds including Greenlight, Pershing Square, Maverick, Third Point, Paulson, and 15 others. To view full report check out the 1Q HF Intelligence here.

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Quick Street of Walls Takeaways:

• The most crowded new ideas during the quarter were AAPL, GOOG, WYNN, and HCA. Other new positions shared among hedge funds but with less overlap were PCLN, DTV, LBTYA, SHW, ANV, NFLX, VRSN, SHW, TRIP, and SIRI
• Excluding large allocation from Hayman, Financials saw a -2.0% decline in sector exposures. Low rates and mortgage related put-back problems in Financials may have led managers to trim and exit positions within the space throughout 2011 and into 2012.
• We found a majority of hedge funds largest positions were shared amongst the hedge funds in our universe. AAPL was by far the most crowded position in the top 12 holdings for hedge funds: Greenlight, Lone Pine, Appaloosa, Maverick, Passport, Blue Ridge, Coatue, and Tiger all have AAPL as one of the largest position in their holdings. Other large crowded positions include GOOG, ESRX, DLPH, QCOM, and C.
• On average the funds listed below bought companies with a 2012 forward price to earnings ratio of 17.5x vs 18.6x last quarter. Appaloosa and Viking bought into the higher valuation stocks at 47.4x and 27.9x respectively while Glenview and Hayman bought into much lower valuations at 12.4x and 11.8x respectively.

Introduction on 13F Filings: Registered hedge funds over $100 million are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to file quarterly updates on portfolio holdings. These holdings are filed online through form 13-F at sec.gov. Hedge funds are required to file these holdings no later than 45 days after the end of the calendar quarter. The Street of Walls team compiled very detailed analyses on 20 of the top Hedge Funds in the industry. This report focuses on hedge fund positions at the start of 1Q 2012 and looks at meaningful changes from the previous quarter. The report is based on 22 of the top hedge funds.

NEW Position Heat Map: During 1Q12, the top 22 hedge funds entered many new positions. The Heat Map below identifies the top NEW positions added during the quarter. NEW names were not previously held in 4Q11. Tickers in Red represent common or “crowded” positions. The most crowded new ideas during the quarter were AAPL, GOOG, WYNN, and HCA. Other new positions shared among hedge funds but with less overlap were PCLN, DTV, LBTYA, SHW, ANV, NFLX, VRSN, SHW, TRIP, and SIRI.  Full Report: Hedge Fund Intelligence  

Crowdedness Among Existing Positions: Below we break-down the most shared stocks held in at the top 22 hedge funds. Crowded trades can lead to higher than normal share price volatility. We examined the number of positions that were shared among our hedge fund universe, giving us an understanding of how the herd is acting.  For the top 22 hedge funds we cover, the most crowded books were from Third Point, Maverick, Lone Pine, Appaloosa, and Blue Ridge (lots of Tiger Cubs in there). The least crowded positions among the books were held at Hawkshaw, Hayman, Icahn, Fairholme, and Baupost.  Full Report: Hedge Fund Intelligence  

Hedge Fund Sector Changes:The percentages below show quarterly changes in sector weighting allocations (as defined by S&P GICS) for each hedge fund we cover.  For example, as defined by publicly available data Baupost increased portfolio allocation ($ amount) into Energy by +3.1% from 4Q11 to 1Q12.  There was a big push within the quarter to Energy (+2.3%), Financials (+0.7%), and Consumer Staples (+0.9%) while Consumer Discretionary (-0.7%) and Industrials (-2.6%) declined the most. Excluding large allocation from Hayman, Financials saw a -2.0% decline in sector exposures. Low rates and mortgage related put-back problems in Financials may have led managers to trim and exit positions within the space throughout 2011 and into 2012.   Full Report: Hedge Fund Intelligence  

Hedge Fund Investment Characteristics:  

Out of the 22 hedge funds examined, Energy was the leading sector for investment in 1Q12 (as a % of sector investments from last quarter) followed by Consumer Discretionary and Staples.  The average market capitalization of hedge fund portfolio companies was $30.1 billion up from $31.0 billion last quarter. Fairholme and Third Point had the highest average market cap exposure while Icahn and Hayman Advisors had the lowest average market cap exposure. On average the funds listed below bought companies with a 2012 forward price to earnings ratio of 17.5x vs 18.6x last quarter. Appaloosa and Viking bought into the higher valuation stocks at 47.4x and 27.9x respectively while Glenview and Hayman bought into much lower valuations at 12.4x and 11.8x respectively.  Short interest as a percentage of publicly traded floating shares was an average of 6.6% across the 22 funds vs. 5.3% last quarter. Tiger and Coatue had the highest short interest with 26.6% and 10.0% while Viking and Third Point had the lowest with 3.2% and 3.0%. Owning stocks with high short interest is a sign of contrarian investing.  Full Report: Hedge Fund Intelligence  

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