MW Renaissance Technologies bought shares of GameStop, AMC before this month's meme-stock trading frenzy
By Joseph Adinolfi
The pioneering firm bought shares of GameStop while increasing its stake in AMC
Pioneering quantitative hedge fund Renaissance Technologies opened a sizable bet on shares of GameStop Corp. $(GME)$ while adding to its position in AMC Entertainment Holdings $(AMC)$ during the first quarter, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission released Wednesday.
The firm held more than 1 million shares of GameStop as of March 31, which had a value of $12.6 million at the time, according to the filing. GameStop shares have risen nearly 300% since then, which would put their current value at around $37 million as of midafternoon trading in New York, according to a MarketWatch analysis of FactSet data.
To be sure, the disclosure doesn't say whether the firm has held on to the shares. Hedge funds and other large investors are required by the SEC to disclose what their holdings of stocks and certain stock options were on the final day of every calendar quarter. Summaries of those holdings are then released publicly 45 days later.
It's possible that, between the day the filing is made and the day of its public release, a firm like Renaissance, known for gleaning profits from short-lived positions in markets, may have made dramatic changes to its portfolio.
Renaissance also increased its position in shares of AMC by nearly 80% to more than 8.7 million shares, which were worth more than $32.3 million as of the end of last quarter. Those same shares would be worth more than $46.6 million today, as the stock has gained more than 84% since the end of March.
Both stocks were falling on Wednesday after two days of heady gains. Investors attributed the latest run up in so-called meme stocks to a post on X from Roaring Kitty, an account associated with investor Keith Gill, who rose to prominence for his videos touting GameStop as an undervalued stock.
MarketWatch Live: GameStop's stock falls as meme-stock momentum cools
These videos developed a large following during the pandemic, and were eventually blamed for inspiring a large short squeeze that sent GameStop shares surging in January 2021.
Roaring Kitty posted for the first time in roughly three years Sunday evening. The post helped spark a frenzied run-up in shares of some of the meme stocks that had been part of the original rally in January 2021, including GameStop (GME), AMC $(AMC.UK)$, BlackBerry $(BB)$ and Koss Corp. $(KOSS)$ once markets opened on Monday.
Jim Simons, Renaissance Technologies' billionaire founder, died last week at the age of 86.
See: 'Jim Simons was the greatest' - Ray Dalio, others pay tribute to trading legend
-Joseph Adinolfi
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May 15, 2024 15:42 ET (19:42 GMT)
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