Analyzing Avenir Corp's Q3 2022 vs Q4 2022 Holdings: Growth, Reductions, and Interesting Moves.

Avenir Corp is a successful hedge fund that operates out of New York City. The fund was started by Brian Flanagan in 2002, and today has over $6 billion in assets under management. The fund's investment philosophy is centered around value investing, and it mainly invests in US equities. The fund has a long-term investment horizon and holds positions in businesses it deems attractive based on their fundamentals. In this blog, we will be analyzing the changes in holdings of Avenir Corp in Q3 2022 versus Q4 2022.

The data that Avenir Corp filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that the fund made several changes to its holdings in the two quarters. In general, the fund seems to have increased its portfolio size, with the Q4 2022 portfolio being worth over $170 million more than the Q3 2022 portfolio. Additionally, Flanagan reduced his stake in some stocks while increasing others.

One stock that Avenir Corp continued to maintain a large stake in was American Tower Corp New. The fund added over 6,500 shares of this stock in Q4 2022, bringing its total position to over 599,258 shares. The value of this position also decreased slightly, from $127.2 million in Q3 2022 to $126.9 million in Q4 2022. The reduction in value may not be significant but it does indicate a slight loss in the stock's market value.

Microsoft Corp was another stock that had some changes in its position. Avenir Corp reduced its stake in this stock, selling over 1,400 shares in Q4 2022. However, this reduction in the number of shares was compensated by an increase in the market value of the position, which increased from $116.3 million in Q3 2022 to $119.4 million in Q4 2022. This may indicate that the fund is bullish on Microsoft's growth prospects.

Markel Corp was one of the biggest gainers in the fund's portfolio, as the value of the fund's position in this stock grew from $89.7 million in Q3 2022 to $109.9 million in Q4 2022. This represented an increase of over 22%. The fund also increased its position in O'Reilly Automotive and Lockhead Martin Corp. The former increased in value by over 20%, while the latter grew by over 24%.

The fund also made some interesting moves in other stocks. For instance, Avenir Corp reduced its stake in Amazon.com Inc by over 27%, selling over 12,000 shares in Q4 2022. Similarly, the fund reduced its position in Apple Inc, with its stake decreasing from 329,846 shares in Q3 2022 to 330,113 shares in Q4 2022. The value of the position also dropped by approximately 6%.

The fund's position in some stocks remained unchanged, such as Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and Energy Transfer LP. In contrast, some stocks had an entirely new position by Q4 2022. For example, Newtek Business Services Corp had not been in the fund's portfolio during Q3 2022 but was added with 47,000 shares in Q4 2022, valued at $763,000.

Some stocks were entirely removed from the portfolio in Q4 2022. For example, the fund sold all its position in DigitalBridge Group Inc., a company that was among its top holdings in Q3 2022, and also a position in Brookfield Asset Management Inc. Value investing enthusiasts may interpret these moves as an indication that Avenir Corp does not see growth opportunities in these companies, or perhaps it is reallocating capital to other businesses.

In conclusion, Brian Flanagan's Avenir Corp's portfolio changes in Q3 2022 versus Q4 2022 indicate that the company continues to be bullish on some stocks while reducing its position in others. In general, the fund seems to have increased its portfolio size, and made some interesting additions and exits. As always, it is important to remember that this data is over a short period, and investors need to perform their due diligence before making investment decisions.