Hedge Fund Loves the NYSE

Updated from 1:15 p.m. EDT

While most of Wall Street was cashing out of the NYSE Group(NYX Quote) last week, someone else was buying in.

Atticus Capital, a hedge fund known for its occasionally bare-knuckled activism, disclosed in a federal filing that it now owns 9.41 million NYSE Group shares -- likely making it the Big Board's largest single shareholder. The stake comes out to roughly 6% of the NYSE's outstanding stock and is worth $688 million at Monday's quote.

Shares of the NYSE have been on a hard-to-explain tear since underwriters priced a 25 million-share secondary offering Thursday night. In the deal, seatholders, exchange executives and many of Wall Street's biggest banks unleashed a huge chunk of previously unregistered stock into the public market, raising $1.5 billion for their own accounts. ...