Kerr Neilson‘s Platinum Asset Management upped its passive stake in Qiwi PLC (NASDAQ:QIWI). The current position amounts to 2.35 million shares – 10.20% of the company’s total common stock, up from the previously held nearly 318,000 as reported in the fund’s latest 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Qiwi PLC (NASDAQ:QIWI) is a provider of payment services across physical, online, and mobile channels in Russia and throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States. Having deployed 11.00 million virtual wallets and over 169,000 kiosks and terminals, QIWI enables over 40,000 merchants to accept an aggregate of RUB 44.00 billion ($12.50 million) in monthly cash and electronic payments. At the end of 2013, the company announced that it completed the acquisition of Blestgroup Enterprises Limited, a company holding a long-term contract on terminal placement in 1,272 spaces of X5 retail network in Russia.
Qiwi PLC (NASDAQ:QIWI)’s profits have showed an increasing trend in the past 3 years, the company providing a return on equity of around 70.00%, compared to the industry average of 17.70%, and returning RUB 2,174.20 million ($61.90 million) or RUB 41.44 per share ($1.18) in 2013, more than double the result for 2012. Currently quoted at around $31.20, the company’s stock price doubled in the past 12 months, peaking at more than $56.00 per share in January, 2014. Setting a one year target price estimate of approximately $51.40 and expecting the company to deliver earnings of RUB 52.63 per share ($1.50) this year, analysts suggest that investors buy Qiwi PLC (NASDAQ:QIWI)’s stock. Managed by Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan, Tiger Global Management owns a position of 850,000 shares of the company’s stock.
An Australia-based hedge fund specializes in global equities, Platinum Asset Management holds an equity portfolio with a total value of $5.78 billion. Roughly 50.00% of the portfolio’s value are invested in the Technology Sector and another 20.00% in Services. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), in which the fund holds more than 357,500 shares, represents the largest share in the fund’s portfolio. Kerr Neilson is also bullish on SINA Corp (NASDAQ:SINA), a Chinese online media company, in which Platinum Asset Management holds a stake of nearly 4.20 million shares with a total current market value of almost $200.00 million.
Disclosure: none
