Loeb, Litt Drop, Reduce Exposure to Caesars Stock

Posted on: February 16, 2021, 05:51h. 

Last updated on: February 16, 2021, 07:52h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

Some well-known money managers reduced or outright eliminated holdings in Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) in the final three months of 2020.

Caesars stock
Daniel Loeb, founder and CEO of hedge fund Third Point seen here in 2017. His firm dumped Caesars stock in the fourth quarter. (Image: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

Dan Loeb’s Third Point hedge fund departed the gaming giant’s shares in the fourth quarter, marking the end of a brief flirtation with the Harrah’s operator. The firm bought one million Caesars shares during the third quarter in a position then valued at $56.06 million.

The hedge fund noted liquidation of its Caesars stock stake in a 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released today after the close of US markets. Caesars was one of three positions Third Point ditched in the December quarter. The other two are not gaming equities.

With the casino behemoth off its roster, the hedge fund currently has no gaming equity exposure. However, some other big-name financiers stood pat in Caesars stock during the last three months of 2020. The 13F doesn’t reveal date of sales or what price the money manager dumped the shares. But if Loeb waited until mid-November or later to part with Caesars stock, he made a tidy profit.

Litt Trim Caesars Stock, But Keeps Some

Jonatha Litt’s Land & Buildings Investment Management, LLC (L&B), an activist investor focusing on real estate assets, also trimmed its Caesars position to roughly 121,000 shares from around 329,000 shares, according to that firm’s 13F.

Although L&B typically hones in on real estate companies, Litt’s firm is known in gaming circles, as it one was of the first investors to push MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) to monetize its once extensive property portfolio.

In late 2019, Litt prompted gaming real estate investment trust (REIT) Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) to consider merging with VICI Properties (NYSE:VICI), the owner of Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. That deal never came to fruition.

The investment firm still owns $25.73 million worth of VICI equity. L&B maintained a stake in MGM valued at $7.85 million at the end of December, according to the regulatory document.

Little Effect on Caesars Stock

News of Loeb departing and Litt paring Caesars positions is having only negligible effects on the name, as it’s lower by just a third of a percent in Tuesday’s after-hours session. It closed at $78.34 today, well-below Wall Street’s consensus price target of almost $90.

Though Caesars stock, often a hedge fund hangout, is off 5.44 percent over the week, it’s higher by 5.48 percent year-to-date.

The largest institutional owner of the name is BlackRock, which held 26.74 million shares, or 12.84 percent of the equity outstanding, as of Sept. 30, 2020.