Quant hedge fund Renaissance Technologies was positioned to benefit from the meme stock mania sweeping the US this week, having added a new long position in GameStop and significantly increased its position in AMC Entertainment during Q1, according to a report by Reuters.

The report cites a securities filing released on 13 May as revealing that Renaissance added 1,004,958 shares of the video game retailer during the first three months of the year, which had a value of approximately $12.6m at the end of March.

GameStop shares are up more than 93% for the week and more than 300% over the last 10 trading days, following posts on an account on social media platform X linked to Keith Gill – aka Roaring Kitty – the central figure in the previous meme stock frenzy of 2021.

The gains mean Renaissance's stake would now be worth nearly 33.5m if it held on to the position.

Renaissance also increased its position in cinema chain AMC by 78% during the first quarter to give it a total of approximately 8.7 million shares, according to 13-F filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. AMC stock, which, like GameStop, is heavily shorted, has also moved higher this week.