Glenview Capital Management has picked up where it left off late last year.
The hedge fund firm headed by Larry Robbins posted a 5.94 percent gain in March in its flagship fund, Glenview Capital Partners. As a result, it was up 16.6 percent in the first quarter, according to an investor. This is close to double the S&P 500’s 7.1 percent gain for the quarter, including dividends reinvested. The fund is now up nearly 36 percent over the past five months.
Glenview Opportunity, a more concentrated fund, rose 10.76 percent in March and 28.48 percent for the quarter, says the investor. The firm’s very small health care fund gained 6.96 percent for the month and 16.91 percent for the quarter, per the investor.
As of March 1, Glenview managed more than $2.3 billion, per a regulatory filing. Several years ago, it was known for having a health care–heavy portfolio. This has changed in recent years as it diversified into tech and other companies.
But in first-quarter 2024, it was Glenview’s health care stocks that drove the strong returns. At year-end, insurance giant Cigna and Tenet Healthcare, an operator of hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers, were Glenview’s largest U.S.-listed longs, accounting for more than 25 percent of assets. Sure enough, in the first quarter, shares of Cigna rose 21 percent and Tenet’s stock surged by nearly 40 percent. In the fourth quarter, the hedge fund firm boosted its position in the two stocks by about 38 percent and more than 13 percent, respectively, according to its recent quarterly 13F filing.
No. 4 U.S. common stock long Universal Health Services, which provides hospital and health care management, gained nearly 20 percent for the quarter.
Meanwhile, in fourth-quarter 2023, Glenview more than doubled its stake in Corteva Agriscience, a chemicals and seed company that was spun off from DowDuPont in 2018, according to the 13F. It is now the firm’s seventh-largest U.S.-listed long. In the first quarter, the stock rose nearly 19 percent.
On the other hand, Glenview’s third-largest U.S. common stock long, IT services and consulting company DXC Technology, fell more than 7 percent for the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Glenview also cut back on its relatively small bet on big technology companies. It liquidated a minimal stake in cloud giant Microsoft and sold the bulk of its position in chip giant Intel. In addition, the firm unloaded more than one-quarter of its stake in e-commerce giant Amazon, its tenth-largest long at the end of September.