Still no Herbalife in 13F ETFs

Despite all the acrimony and controversy surrounding the ongoing Herbalife HLF, the one where Pershing Square Capital Founder Bill Ackman is short the stock and squaring off against other noted financiers such as Carl Icahn, shares of the nutritional supplements firm still are not significant components in ETFs. In theory, it would seem Herbalife would make for a potential addition to two ETFs designed to give investors exposure to to stocks that frequently appear in hedge fund 13F filings. That has not been the case. The AlphaClone Alternative Alpha ETF ALFA recently rebalanced its lineup and Herablife is nowhere to be found. ALFA tracks the AlphaClone Hedge Fund Long/Short Index, which "uses AlphaClone's proprietary "Clone Score” methodology to aggregate on a quarterly basis the ideas of hedge funds for which historically it has made the most sense to follow based on their disclosures. The index also employs a hedge mechanism that allows the index to vary from being long only to market hedged," according to the ETF's fact sheet. Apple AAPL, News Corp. NWSA, American International Group AIG and Google GOOG are among ALFA's top holdings. The fund holds more than 75 stocks. The rival Global X Top Guru Holdings Index ETF GURU has not made room for Herbalife, either. At least not yet. GURU tracks the Top Guru Holdings Index, which "is comprised of the top U.S. listed equity positions reported on Form 13F by a select group of entities that Structured Solutions AG characterizes as hedge funds," according to Global X. Home to over 50 stocks, GURU's top holdings include Allscripts Healthcare Solutions MDRX, Crown Castle CCI and Dow component Merck MRK. Interestingly, Herbalife was not among the five most purchased stocks by hedge funds in the fourth quarter. That group is comprised of Kraft KRFT, ADT ADT, Realogy Holdings RLGY, Workday WDAY and Facebook FB, according to AlphaClone data. Apple and Google were among the five most sold stocks by hedge funds in the fourth quarter the AlphaClone data show. For more on ETFs, click here.