Shares of GameStop (NYSE:GME) are in the green today, much to the delight of r/WallStreetBets. GameStop’s gains today may be partly explained by meme stock AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) reporting Q4 preliminary earnings. The movie theater chain reported its highest revenue since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. However, GameStop isn’t in the clear just yet. Shares of GME stock are still down more than 25% year-to-date. Making matters worse, the video game retailer is down 50% year-over-year. Now, a $3.5 trillion institutional investor is taking advantage of GameStop’s price drop.
Indeed, in an amended 13G filing received yesterday, BlackRock purchased 473,900 shares of GME stock. The purchase increased BlackRock’s existing GameStop position by 10%. Following the purchase, BlackRock now owns 6.8% of all shares of GME stock outstanding, or 5.19 million shares.
In addition, BlackRock is a very long-term-oriented investor. The average holding period for a stock in BlackRock’s portfolio is 23.51 quarters. Investors in GameStop should be reassured knowing they have BlackRock on their side.
With that said, what other institutional investors own GameStop? Let’s dive right in.
Who Owns GME Stock? GameStop’s Top 5 Institutional Investors
- RC Ventures: 9,001,000 shares, or 11.68% ownership
- Vanguard Group: 5,941,884 shares, or 7.78% ownership
- BlackRock: 5,194,528 shares, or 6.8% ownership
- State Street: 1,604,569 shares, or 2.1% ownership.
- Geode Capital Management: 752,985 shares, or 0.98% ownership.
After its recent purchase, BlackRock remains the third-largest institutional investor of GameStop. Based on the most recent data, BlackRock and Geode Capital have increased their GameStop positions. On the other hand, Vanguard and State Street decreased their positions, while RC Ventures’ position has remained constant. Zooming out, a total of 596 institutional investors own GME stock. Out of the 596, 539 investors are long only, while 23 investors are short. In the middle, 34 investors are both long and short.
Fans of GameStop will likely remember last year’s January short squeeze. Shares of GME stock squeezed to as high as $340, and one fund capitalized massively off of GameStop’s price action. That fund is Senvest Management, which managed to return 85% in 2021, making them one of the top performing hedge funds that year. During January of last year, Senvest rode the GameStop price speculation and profited big-time. The fund made a timely exit decision and returned 15.3% in February, even as GameStop declined by 69%. Now, the big question remains: Can GameStop squeeze again to atmospheric levels?
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
