Hudson Bay Capital Management, Geode Capital Management and Morgan Stanley are among the large institutional investors that took positions in Donald Trump’s Trump Media & Technology Group during the first quarter, securities filings showed Wednesday.
The former president, Republican candidate in the November 5 presidential election, holds a majority stake in the company. She owns the social media site Truth Social, where Mr. Trump has 7 million followers and is a prolific poster.
Hudson Bay Capital purchased 150,000 shares during the quarter, initiating a position worth nearly $10 million at the end of March and now worth about $7.8 million. Geode Capital Management, a spinoff of mutual fund giant Fidelity, purchased 102,923 shares during the quarter, while Morgan Stanley bought 44,346 shares.
Trump Media shares have been volatile, jumping as much as 59% when they began trading on the Nasdaq on March 26. The rise attracted short sellers, who booked profits of $91.1 million in April as stocks slumped, according to S3 Partners. The stock jumped 5% in May.
On Wednesday, Trump Media notified the Securities and Exchange Commission of a delay in its quarterly filings because it recently replaced an auditor the regulator accused of fraud. Shares fell nearly 1.7%.
The company reported an operating loss of $10.6 million for the first nine months of 2023 on revenue of $3.4 million, and currently has a market value of approximately $7 billion. dollars.
Firms including Shaolin Capital Management, Simplex Trading, Picton Mahoney Asset Management and Radcliffe Capital Management have purchased put options on stocks, which are typically bearish bets that pay off if the stock price falls, according to securities deposits. It was unclear, however, whether the purchases were part of a broader business strategy.
Quarterly reporting of the stock holdings of hedge funds and other institutional investors in 13F filings with the SEC is one of the few public ways to track what hedge fund managers are selling and buying. Statements are made 45 days after the end of the quarter and may not reflect current positions.
