At Holdings Channel, we have reviewed the latest batch of the 69 most recent 13F filings for the 03/31/2023 reporting period, and noticed that Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI) was held by 17 of these funds. When hedge fund managers appear to be thinking alike, we find it is a good idea to take a closer look.

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Before we proceed, it is important to point out that 13F filings do not tell the whole story, because these funds are only required to disclose their long positions with the SEC, but are not required to disclose their short positions. A fund making a bearish bet against a stock by shorting calls, for example, might also be long some amount of stock as they trade around their overall bearish position. This long component could show up in a 13F filing and everyone might assume the fund is bullish, but this tells only part of the story because the bearish/short side of the position is not seen.

Having given that caveat, we believe that looking at groups of 13F filings can be revealing, especially when comparing one holding period to another. Below, let's take a look at the change in ATVI positions, for this latest batch of 13F filers:

In terms of shares owned, we count 7 of the above funds having increased existing ATVI positions from 12/31/2022 to 03/31/2023, with 7 having decreased their positions and 1 new position. Worth noting is that Alpine Investment Management Ltd, included in this recent batch of 13F filers, exited ATVI common stock as of 03/31/2023.

Looking beyond these particular funds in this one batch of most recent filers, we tallied up the ATVI share count in the aggregate among all of the funds which held ATVI at the 03/31/2023 reporting period (out of the 4,163 we looked at in total). We then compared that number to the sum total of ATVI shares those same funds held back at the 12/31/2022 period, to see how the aggregate share count held by hedge funds has moved for ATVI. We found that between these two periods, funds reduced their holdings by 3,331,933 shares in the aggregate, from 140,821,155 down to 137,489,222 for a share count decline of approximately -2.37%. The overall top three funds holding ATVI on 03/31/2023 were: