John Paulson’s eponymous hedge fund, Paulson & Co., maintained its stake in the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) during the third quarter.
Paulson & Co., the largest GLD shareholder, made no adjustments to its GLD position for a fifth consecutive quarter even as gold prices have tumbled in recent months, reports Debarati Roy for Bloomberg.
At the end of the third quarter, Paulson owned over 10.2 million shares of GLD, the world’s largest ETF backed by physical holdings of gold, worth nearly $1.2 billion. GLD is Paulson’s second-largest equity position behind Irish pharmaceuticals firm Shire (NYSE: SHPG).
While Paulson is sticking with GLD, plenty of other investors are doing the opposite. In the week ended Nov. 13, the ETF lost over $445 million, bring its fourth-quarter outflows to $1.87 billion, a number exceeded by just two other ETFs. [October was bad for Gold ETFs]
Year-to-date, GLD has shed $2.87 billion, making it the fourth-worst ETF for lost assets this year. GLD and other physical gold ETFs are popular with hedge funds.
At the end of the second quarter, GLD was the second-most owned ETF by hedge funds while iShares Gold Trust (NYSEArca: IAU) and the ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (NYSEArca: SGOL) were also among the top-25. [Hedge Funds’ Favorite ETFs]