Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital is a value oriented hedge fund. Pershing has approximately $10 billion under management and is up 3.3% year to date, as we reported several days ago.
Ackman holds a very concentrated portfolio. According to 13F fillings, he only has eight holdings, however, on the last stat sheet we saw from the firm it was slightly higher. We examine Pershing’s Portfolio below:
Additions:
Bill Ackman bought 22 million shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG). The stake currently makes up 19% of the stated assets on the 13F. Ackman has already tried to push some changes at the large food company to unlock shareholder value.
Reduce:
Ackman has almost entirely sold out of his stake in CitiGroup Inc. (NYSE:C). In Ackman’s second quarter letter obtained by ValueWalk, Ackman explains his rationale for the move:
While I believe that our initial fundamental analysis was correct, we erred in overpaying for our stake because we did not demand a large enough potential profit from this investment in light of the inherent environmental uncertainties of investing in a financial institution. Recent events in the banking world – in particular, a large surprise derivative loss at JPMorgan and the recent LIBOR manipulation scandal – were the proverbial straws that broke this camel’s back.
Sales:
Ackman sold out of Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FDO), Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc (NYSE:FBHS), and Kraft Foods Inc (NASDAQ:KFT). Ackman mentions neither Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FDO), Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc (NYSE:FBHS), or Kraft Foods Inc (NASDAQ:KFT) in his second letter. He did explain his rationale for being bullish on Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FDO) and Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc (NYSE:FBHS) at the Value Investing Congress earlier this year. We previously mentioned his sales of Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FDO) and Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc (NYSE:FBHS) in May.
Holdings:
Ackman’s largest holdings are in Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP), which he ran an activist campaign to change the board. Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP) makes up 25% of stated assets on Pershing’s 13F. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), as mentioned above, is number two. Ackman also owns some call options on PG. General Growth Properties is number threee. GGP has been one of Ackman’s best investments ever.
BEAM Inc (NYSE:BEAM) is the fourth largest holding. Ackman originally acquired BEAM Inc (NYSE:BEAM) through a spin-off of FHBS in 2011.
Ackman’s 5th largest stake is in J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP). He has repeatedly praised J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) and the CEO he brought in from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Ron Johnson. Ackman has been instrumental in attempting to change J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) into a store, which is more of an upscale Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) type retailer.
Disclosure: Long JCP
