The Maestro's Movers: Neil Woodford's Big Buys and Sells in February 2016

Stock stalking is a weird hobby.

In general I do not "follow" any particular investor's activities. However, there are a couple that I have followed of sorts because I like their investment style. One of them is Neil Woodford

I watch Woodford's fund quite carefully to get some ideas. In particular, doing this with Woodford is comparatively easy as--I am sure many of you know this--he publishes the entire breakdown of his fund each month. Very unusual, but also very interesting.

Since launch I have been assiduously collecting this data and building a little spreadsheet to see how things are changing. I've realised that this work--which is not a tiny amount--may be of interest to some of you.

So here I will offer a little breakdown of the companies that Woodford has bought and sold in February 2016.

Methodology

First, a little on my methodology. Woodford provides two bits of information each month which I use for this:

1. The total value of all the assets in his fund (this month, £8.28 billion);
2. The percentage weight each company has within the fund.

Using this information, I do a couple of things:

1. Work out the value of the company holding (dividing the fund size by the company's weight)
2. Using the share price on the day the snapshot of the fund was taken, I work out how many shares (approximately) Woodford holds in the company.

Now this provides an estimate of his shareholding in each company from month to month. It can then be used to work out what his big movers were during the month.

This is where it may be interesting to you.

Woodford's Big Buys in February

So what companies has Woodford been buying into?

Well, here is a list--according to my estimates--of listed companies that he increased his shareholding in by 3% or more. Those in bold were not in last months list of big buys. Those in italics were in last months big sells last month:

1	Phoenix Spree Deutschland	LON:PSDL	345.05%
2	Sphere Medical	LON:SPHR	100.00%
3	Imperial Innovations	LON:IVO	80.70%
4	Beazley	LON:BEZ	50.65%
5	Stobart	LON:STOB	35.18%
6	VPC Specialty Lending C	LON:VSLC	24.74%
7	Rightster	LON:RSTR	20.23%
8	Synairgen	LON:SNG	18.47%
9	Revolymer	LON:REVO	17.96%
10	Halosource Reg S	LON:HALO	16.70%
11	Idex	NYSE:IEX	15.81%
12	Roche	VTX:ROG	14.22%
13	AstraZeneca	LON:AZN	13.69%
14	Alkermes	NASDAQ:ALKS	12.94%
15	Reynolds American	NYSE:RAI	11.42%
16	Legal & General	LON:LGEN	10.88%
17	Prothena	NASDAQ:PRTA	10.70%
18	Imperial Brands	LON:IMB	10.50%
19	Provident Financial	LON:PFG	9.68%
20	British American Tobacco	LON:BATS	9.59%
21	Hiscox	LON:HSX	9.09%
22	Paypoint	LON:PAY	8.49%
23	BCA Marketplace	LON:BCA	7.97%
24	ReNeuron	LON:RENE	7.05%
25	Netscientific	LON:NSCI	6.97%
26	Circassia	LON:CIR	6.47%
27	GlaxoSmithKline	LON:GSK	6.16%
28	Horizon Discovery	LON:HSD	5.84%
29	VPC Specialty Lending	LON:VSL	4.69%
30	Tissue Regenix	LON:TRX	4.60%
31	Crystal Amber	LON:CRS	4.49%
32	IP	LON:IPO	4.49%
33	Theravance Biopharma	NASDAQ:TBPH	3.71%
34	Hvivo	LON:HVO	3.65%
35	Hostelworld	LON:HSW	3.35%
36	BAE Systems	LON:BA	3.10%

Woodford's Big Sells in February

So what companies has Woodford been dropping?

Again, this is a list of those which have dropped at least 3% or more. Those in bold were not in last months list of big sells. Those in italics were in last months big buys last month:

1	Drax	LON:DRX	-19.04%
2	Next	LON:NXT	-16.90%
2	Benchmark	LON:BMK	-16.57%
3	Game Digital	LON:GMD	-14.17%
4	Midatech Pharma	LON:MTPH	-12.46%
5	e-Therapeutics	LON:ETX	-11.44%
6	RM2 International	LON:RM2	-8.55%
7	P2P Global	LON:P2P	-8.14%
8	NewRiver Retail	LON:NRR	-7.49%
9	Purplebricks	LON:PURP	-7.43%
10	Redde	LON:REDD	-7.38%
11	Breedon Aggregates	LON:BREE	-6.16%
12	4D Pharma	LON:DDDD	-6.14%
13	Vernalis	LON:VER	-5.77%
14	Xeros	LON:XSG	-5.15%
15	Lancashire	LON:LRE	-4.92%
16	Babcock International	LON:BAB	-3.85%
17	Mercia Technologies	LON:MERC	-3.66%
18	Spire Healthcare	LON:SPI	-3.51%
19	Cranswick	LON:CWK	-3.21%
20	Utilitywise	LON:UTW	-3.11%

Some Caveats

Obviously, as with everything on this site, this list is not meant to be advice on what to buy (or sell). Also, these figures are all created from different levels of estimated data. 

The weightings are rounded as is the fund value. Share holdings are therefore estimations rather than certain figures and--as a consequence--my calculations on their changes are not supposed to be seen as 100% accurate. Of course, at this final stage (that is, the write-up) there is also an additional rounding of the percentage changes.

Also, because of the way I collate the data it does mean that full sales of holdings will likely be missed. If you notice any, give me a heads up in the comments section below. For example, this month the Essentra position appears to have been sold out of.

Finally, remember this is an open-ended fund and so has cash flowing in and out of it constantly. As a result, for those companies Woodford particularly favours--if he wishes to keep them at a similar weighting--then each month would show a growth in his shareholding in them. what this means for the true nature of the purchase (confidence, consistency, or whatever) is up to you!

As usual, Do Your Own Research (DYOR)!

What do you think?

What do you think of some of Woodford's big movers? Did you make similar purchases/sells in February? Has the list got you thinking about any of the companies listed?

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[Image reproduced from Woodford Investment Management]