NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Hedge fund Renaissance

Technologies added a new long position in GameStop ( GME ) and

significantly increased its position in AMC Entertainment ( AMC )

during the first quarter, putting it in position to

benefit from the meme stock mania sweeping through the U.S.

equity market this week.

Renaissance added 1,004,958 shares of videogame retailer

GameStop ( GME ) during the quarter, which had a value of approximately

$12.6 million at the end of March, according to a securities

filing released on May 13.

Meme stocks have soared this week after an account linked to

Keith Gill, the central figure behind the previous meme stock

frenzy in 2021, posted messages on social media platform X. The

shares started to lose momentum on Wednesday.

Quarterly disclosures of hedge fund managers' stock holdings

in 13-F filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

are one of the few public ways of tracking what hedge fund

managers are selling and buying. The disclosures are made 45

days after the end of each quarter and may not reflect current

positions.

GameStop ( GME ) shares are up more than 93% for the week and up

more than 300% over the last 10 trading days, potentially making

Renaissance Technologies' stake now worth nearly $33.5 million

if it kept 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, the securities filing showed.

Shares of other companies, including AMC, headphones maker

Koss ( KOSS ) and food storage container company Tupperware

have followed GameStop ( GME ) higher. Like GameStop ( GME ), many of

the stocks are heavily shorted.

James Simon, who founded the quantitative hedge fund

Renaissance Technologies, died last week at 86.