Gordon Haskett highlights PayPal, VICI trades as possibly activist-driven

Gordon Haskett’s head of event-driven research, Don Bilson, wrote in a note earlier that the firm sees some signs in the Q1 filing of SG Americas, Societe Generale’s broker dealer, that “point to SG becoming a swap broker that activists use.” In that context, the firm highlighted PayPal (PYPL) and said it “wouldn’t be surprised to learn that one of the usual suspects is now watching PYPL anonymously.” Another callout is VICI Properties (VICI), as the firm noted that SG bought 5m shares during Q1 and exited the quarter with a $150M position. VICI has “modestly underperformed Gaming and Leisure Properties over the past year and the stock was trading near the bottom of its five-year-trading range when March drew to a close,” wrote the analyst, who also noted trades “in size during Q1” in Host Hotels (HST) and GitLab (GTLB).