Shares of hedge fund favorite Sarepta Therapeutics surged 74 percent on Monday, to an all-time high of $48.94, after reports that the Food and Drug Administration approved the company’s drug to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the first drug to treat this rare but debilitating disease. The stock had surged as much as 90 percent on the news. Sarepta Therapeutics is the fifth-largest holding of New York–based Perceptive Advisors, the company’s largest shareholder. Perceptive also had a large put option hedge on the stock at the end of the second quarter, as well a call options. Steve Cohen’s Stamford, Connecticut family office, Point72 Asset Management, was also a top-ten holder of the stock. New York-based D.E. Shaw, which had a sizable stake in the first quarter, unloaded all of its shares in the June period. Other well-known hedge funds liquidated relatively small positions in the second quarter as well.
___
Shares of Isle of Capri surged 30 percent, to close at $22.04, after the casino operator agreed to be acquired by rival Eldorado Resorts for $1.7 billion. Several high-profile hedge funds are among Isle of Capri’s top-ten holders, but the stock is not a significant part of any of their portfolios. They include East Setauket, New York-based Renaissance Technologies, Chicago-based Citadel, New York-based Millennium Management and New York-based Brigade Capital Management.
___
Boston-based Adage Capital Partners said it liquidated its entire stake of 3.4 million shares in Vitae Pharmaceuticals as of September 14. The stock had surged more than 150 percent that day, to close at $20.85, after the clinical-stage biotechnology company agreed to be acquired by Allergan for $21 per share.
