An IPO research firm made some key moves in the fourth quarter, including exiting two high-profile investments.
Renaissance Capital LLC sold all of its shares in short-term rental company Airbnb and cloud software company Palantir Technologies during the quarter, and bought additional shares in trading app Robinhood Markets and electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive. Renaissance, among other things, disclosed the stock transactions in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Matt Kennedy, a senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, said in an email: “We sold Airbnb and Palantir as part of our rebalancing in the fourth quarter because they had already been publicly traded for more than three years at that point.” The
Renaissance IPO
The exchange-traded fund is designed to hold inexperienced stocks not found in many core portfolios.”
By the way, the Renaissance IPO ETF had a bad year in 2023, gaining 53% compared to a 24% increase in 2023
S&P 500 index.
Kennedy noted that Airbnb originally went public in December 2020 and was added to the S&P 500 in September 2023, giving the company a broader investment base as funds and ETFs tracking the index bought shares.
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Airbnb stock ended 2023 as a winner with a gain of 59%. Palantir stock has done even better, rising 167% over the past year. So far in 2024, shares of Airbnb and Palantir are up 1% and down 2.4%, respectively. Renaissance owned 133,109 Airbnb shares and 948,588 Palantir shares as of September 30 and owned none as of the end of December.
“As for Robinhood and Rivian,” Kennedy continued, “like other ETFs that are weighted by market cap, we will typically purchase more shares of an existing holding because of improved stock performance or higher performance in the quarter prior to rebalancing “tradable float.”
In the third quarter, Robinhood shares fell about 2%, while Rivian shares rose 46%. Robinhood shares ended 2023 up 57%, fueled by a crypto rally in December. Rivian shares have gained 27% this year. So far in 2024, Robinhood and Rivian stocks have posted losses of 14% and 23%, respectively.
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Renaissance bought 93,707 more Robinhood shares in the fourth quarter to increase its holdings to 429,386 shares and bought 87,975 Rivian shares with 423,549 shares by the end of 2023.
A regular feature of Barron's, Inside Scoop reports on stock transactions by company executives and board members – so-called insiders – as well as major shareholders, politicians and other prominent figures. Because of their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock transactions to the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory authorities.
Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.
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