Q3 13F Roundup: How Buffett, Einhorn, Ackman And Others Adjusted Their Portfolios

The latest round of 13F filings from institutional investors is out, revealing to the world the stocks that some of the richest and most successful investors have been buying and selling.

Takeaways From 13F Season

Investors who follow particular fund managers can easily look up what each was buying and selling in the quarter, but other investors may be more interested in overall themes from 13F filings. Overall, it appears buying and selling among fund managers was split relatively evenly in the third quarter.

• Surprisingly, despite a 27.1% drop in Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) shares in the third quarter, no major fund manager mentioned below was buying or selling shares.
• The FANG group didn’t get much attention at all in the third quarter aside from David Tepper buying Facebook, Amazon and Google.
• Carl Icahn took a gamble on Caesars Entertainment, while George Soros dialed back his position.
• Several fund managers made major adjustments to their ETF positions, including Tepper selling the XOP ETF, Leon Cooperman buying the GLD ETF, and Soros selling both the QQQ and the IWB funds.
• As interest rates fell, dividend stocks were getting some love this quarter, with fund managers buying stocks like General Motors, BP and Carnival, each of which yield more than 4%.

Here’s a rundown of how the smart money was playing some of the most popular stocks last quarter.

David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital

Notable Q3 Buys/Increases:

• Chemours Co (NYSE:CC)
• Brighthouse Financial Inc (NASDAQ:BHF)
• General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)
• Neubase Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:NBSE)
• Adient PLC (NYSE:ADNT)

David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management

• Hilton Grand Vacations Inc (NYSE:HGV)
• KAR Auction Services Inc (NYSE:KAR)
• Valaris PLC (NYSE:VAL)
• Dillard's, Inc. (NYSE:DDS)

Notable Q3 Buys/Increases:

• Alphabet Inc Class C (NASDAQ:GOOG)
• Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)
• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd - ADR (NYSE:BABA)
• Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)
• Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
• PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG)
• Boeing Co (NYSE:BA)

Notable Q3 Sells/Reductions:

• SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Explore & Prod. (NYSE:XOP)

Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors

Notable Q3 Buys/Increases:

• Fiserv Inc (NASDAQ:FISV)
• SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD)
• Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE:NBR)
• Carnival Corp (NYSE:CCL)
• Navient Corp (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Notable Q3 Sells/Decreases:

• Nielsen Holdings PLC (NYSE:NLSN)
• Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)
• AMC NETWORKS INC (NASDAQ:AMCX)

Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners

Notable Q3 Buys/Increases:

• Instructure Inc (NYSE:INST)
• Bloomin' Brands Inc (NASDAQ:BLMN)

Notable Q3 Sells/Reductions:

• Axalta Coating Systems Ltd (NYSE:AXTA)
• Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc (NYSE:ZBH)
• HD Supply Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:HDS)
• Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK)
• Falcon Minerals Corp (NASDAQ:FLMN)

Jeff Smith’s Starboard Value

Notable Q3 Buys/Increases:

• Perrigo Company PLC (NYSE:PRGO)
• Natus Medical Inc (NASDAQ:NTUS)
• Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL)
• Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR)
• Cars.com Inc (NYSE:CARS)

Notable Q3 Sells/Reductions:

• Box Inc (NYSE:BOX)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway

Notable Q3 Buys/Increases:

• Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY)
• Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc (NYSE:RH)

Notable Q3 Sells/Reductions:

• Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC)
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
• Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX)
• Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SIRI)

George Soros’ Soros Fund Management

Notable Q3 Buys/Increases:

• Peloton Interactive Inc (NASDAQ:PTON)
• Ally Financial Inc (NYSE:ALLY)
• BP plc (NYSE:BP)
• Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C)
• Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG)

Notable Q3 Sells/Reductions:

• PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 (NASDAQ:QQQ)
• Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ:CZR)
• Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS)
• iShares Russell 1000 Index (NYSE:IWB)
• Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)
• Slack Technologies Inc (NYSE:WORK)
• LYFT Inc (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital

Notable Q3 Buys/Increases:

• HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ)
• Cloudera Inc (NYSE:CLDR)
• Icahn Enterprises LP (NASDAQ:IEP)
• Hertz Global Holdings Inc (NYSE:HTZ)
• Conduent Inc (NYSE:CNDT)
• Caesars Entertainment

Notable Q3 Sells/Reductions:

• Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG)
• Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX)
• Occidental Petroleum

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital

Notable Q3 Buys/Increases:

• Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class B (NYSE: BRK-B)

Notable Q3 Sells/Reductions:

• Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP)
• Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG)
• Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE:HLT)
• Restaurant Brands International Inc (NYSE:QSR)
• Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW)
• United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX)

Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners

Notable Q3 Buys/Increases:

• Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG)
• MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL INC (NASDAQ:MDLZ)
• Legg Mason Inc (NYSE:LM)
• General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)

Notable Q3 Sells/Decreases:

• PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)
• Wendys Co (NASDAQ:WEN)
• Bank of New York Mellon Corp (NYSE:BK)

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