Steve Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital opened a huge stake in Meta during the third quarter, regulatory filings show. The billionaire hedge-fund manager known as one of the Tiger Cubs thanks to his work with the late Julian Robertson in the 1990s, poured more than $830 million into the Facebook parent in the latest three-month period, according to a 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission . Mandel’s move came amid a strong year for Meta. Meta shares climbed 4.6% in the third quarter and have added almost 11% this month alone. The Instagram and WhatsApp owner has soared almost 180% in 2023, bringing the stock to within a few dollars of where it finished 2021 after sliding 64% in 2022. META YTD mountain Meta shares in 2023 Meta is now the Connecticut-based fund’s largest single holding, according to InsiderScore. It’s one of several changes to Lone Pine’s stakes in ” Magnificent 7 ” stocks. The group of large growth names has been of particular interest this year because some see their rallies as disguising weak fundamentals in the market more broadly. Lone Pine also opened a big position in Alphabet during the period, valued at slightly more than $400 million. The Google and YouTube parent rose more than 9% in the third quarter and is on pace to finish 2023 nearly 55% higher. Elsewhere, Lone Pine raised its Amazon stake nearly 12% in the three-month period, after slashing it 26% in the second quarter. A Microsoft position tumbled by nearly 28%, making it the fifth biggest position in the portfolio after ranking first in the three months ended June 30. Lone Pine closed out a $290-million position in Nvidia that had only been opened in the second quarter. Nvidia saw muted gains in the third quarter of less than 3% as the broader market slumped. But it has still been a banner year for Nvidia’s stock, with shares soaring more than 235% since New Year’s. Outside of big tech, Lone Pine made some adjustments to financial services stocks. The fund, which Mandel opened in 1997, upped its exposure to Mastercard by more than 48%, bringing the total size of his holding close to $700 million. But the investor also zeroed out a nearly $300-million Visa position. Lone Pine also sold a handful of consumer-facing names including RH , Bath & Body Works and Floor & Decor in the latest quarter at the same time as it built a stake worth more than $200 million in Tempur Sealy .
