Yahoo Finance

Stock indices dipped in October 2023, with the S&P 500 falling a sharp 10% off summer highs. Looking at 13F filings of big institutional portfolios, we see that the big guns were busy last quarter taking advantage of that dip. Citadel Advisors went on a buying spree, adding to its $100 billion portfolio across a range of sectors. As did D.E. Shaw, adding to its $67 billion portfolio. Vickers Stock Research, a subsidiary of Argus Research Group, analyzes insider trading and institutional stock ownership. Form 13-Fs, which institutions must file to report their holdings, are due 45 days after the end of calendar quarters and have come in for 4Q24. We review 13Fs of major activists to determine core holdings and new purchases. Activist investing is now less about generating a short-term return and more about achieving long-term returns through an active management/investor partnership. Based on data from Vickers, here are some recent new purchases and key holdings of activist investors, as well as other high-profile money managers.

The Vickers Top Insider Picks is a daily report that utilizes a proprietary algorithm to identify 25 companies with compelling insider purchase histories based on transactions over the past three months.

U.S. Cellular is a regional wireless carrier that serves about 4.5 million customers spread across four major geographic clusters: the Midwest, mid-Atlantic, New England, and the Pacific Northwest. These service territories encompass a total population of about 32 million people. The vast majority of the markets the firm serves are rural or second/third-tier cities, with only the greater Milwaukee and Oklahoma City regions boasting populations greater than 1 million. U.S. Cellular also owns a 5.5% stake in Verizon Wireless’ Los Angeles operations and, unlike its wireless carrier peers, owns most of its own towers.

Liberty Global is a holding company with interests in several telecom companies in the U.K., Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, and Slovakia. Liberty is the owner of the main cable network in each of these geographies and has pursued a strategy since 2016 to merge or partner with mobile-network-operators to be able to offer converged services. Liberty also owns minority stakes in other media, entertainment, and cloud companies.