PointState Capital Raises PDC Energy Stake

Zachary Schreiber's hedge fund firm PointState Capital filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of PDC Energy (PDCE).  Per the filing, PointState has revealed a 5.2% ownership stake in with 1,571,500 shares.

This marks an increase of 49% in their position size since the end of 2012.  The 13G was required due to portfolio activity on April 25th.

Per Google Finance, PDC Energy is "a domestic independent exploration and production company, which acquires, develops, explores, and produces natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and crude oil. Its Western Operating Region is focused on development in the Wattenberg Field in Colorado, particularly in the liquid-rich horizontal Niobrara play and on the ongoing development of refractures and recompletions of its Wattenberg wells. In its Eastern Operating Region, it is focused on horizontal development in the Marcellus Shale in northern West Virginia, and initiated exploration and development activity in the Utica Shale play in Ohio. Its segments include Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, and Gas Marketing."

We've also detailed other portfolio activity from PointState Capital here.

PointState Capital Reveals Stake in iStar Financial (SFI)

On Friday, Zach Schreiber's hedge fund PointState Capital filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of iStar Financial (SFI).  Per the filing, PointState has revealed a brand new equity position in the company.

The hedge fund firm now owns a 6.5% stake in SFI with 5,492,500 shares and the filing was required due to portfolio activity on March 5th.

PointState was founded by former Duquesne Capital employees with seed capital from Stanley Druckenmiller after he wound down Duquesne as well as capital from other former investors in Duquesne.  We recently highlighted lessons from Druckenmiller, which has been a popular post.  Druckenmiller also gave a rare interview recently.

Per Google Finance, iStar Financial is "a fully integrated finance and investment company focused on the commercial real estate industry. The Company provides investment capital to high-end private and corporate owners of real estate and invests directly across a range of real estate sectors. The Company is a real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company operates in three segments: lending, net leasing and real estate investment."

A few months ago, we also highlighted other portfolio activity from PointState.

PointState Capital Increases Verisign Position ~ 13G Filing

Sean Cullinan's hedge fund firm PointState Capital filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Verisign (VRSN).  Per the filing, PointState has disclosed a 3% ownership stake in the company with 4,666,670 shares.

The filing was made due to trading activity on November 29th and marks an increase of 158% in the number of shares they own since the end of the third quarter.

The November 29th date is relevant here, mainly because the day after that, shares dropped from $40 to $34 on news that Verisign won the .com domain renewal, but wasn't going to be allowed to raise prices by the government.  Since then, shares have slightly rebounded back to around $37.

Hedge fund Lone Pine Capital has also been long Versign and we've highlighted Steve Mandel's pitch on VRSN from the Invest For Kids Chicago event last month.  Mandel argued that even if no price increases are allowed by the government, the downside is low.

The company recently announced it would double its stock repurchase plan to $1 billion.


About PointState Capital

This is the first time we've highlighted this fund, so here's some background: Point State was founded with around $5 billion a few years ago by former colleagues of Stan Druckenmiller's at Duquesne Capital.  Druckenmiller himself invested in the fund but does not have an ownership stake. 

Sean Cullinan is the CEO of Point State while other former Duquesne portfolio managers are there as well.  Point State is named after a park in Pittsburgh by the location of the old Fort Duquesne.


About Verisign

Per Google Finance, Verisign is "a provider of Internet infrastructure services. The Company provides domain name registry services and infrastructure assurance services. VeriSign segment includes Naming Services, which consists of Registry Services and Network Intelligence and Availability (NIA) Services. The Company has operations inside, as well as outside the United States. Registry Services operates the directory of all .com, .net, .cc, .tv, and .name domain names and the back-end systems for all .gov, .jobs and .edu domain names."