Billionaire Bill Ackman Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is, While Carl Icahn Reveals His Newest Activist Target

In a separate 13D filing, reputable activist investor Carl Icahn of Icahn Capital LP reported owning 72.22 million shares of Xerox Corp (NYSE:XRX), which include shares underlying forward contracts. The freshly-acquired position represents roughly 7.13% of the company’s outstanding common stock. Icahn and his team also expressed their belief that the shares of Xerox are undervalued, and also stated their intentions to have discussions with the company’s management and Board of Directors regarding “improving operational performance and pursuing strategic alternatives, as well as the possibility of board representation”. On October 26, Xerox announced that its Board had previously authorized a review of the company’s business portfolio and capital allocation options in an attempt to create shareholder value. It appears that Icahn has already formulated some steps of his own as to how to unlock shareholder value at Xerox, given his bullish purchase. Shares of Xerox Corp (NYSE:XRX) are up slightly in morning trading, having retreated from their initial high of about 2%.

Xerox received more attention from the hedge funds observed by the Insider Monkey team in the third quarter, with the number of top money managers invested in the company increasing to 33 from 30 during the three-month period. These smart money investors owned 5.30% of Xerox’s common stock on September 30, while the value of their stakes grew to $547.90 million from $405.44 million quarter-over-quarter. Brian Jackelow’s SAB Capital Management acquired a 4.49 million-share stake in Xerox Corp (NYSE:XRX) during the September quarter.

Moving on to the 13G filing, Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital disclosed a passive ownership stake of 13.19 million shares in Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR), which accounts for 5.6% of its outstanding shares. This compares with the 5.14 million-share position revealed via the fund’s 13F filing for the September quarter. The leading operator of retail discount stores has seen its shares decline by slightly more than 1% in 2015, while several valuation metrics do not suggest significant upside for the stock. On Tuesday, Dollar Tree released its third quarter earnings report, posting consolidated net sales of $4.95 billion, which were significantly up from the $2.10 billion figure reported for the same period of last year. Its adjusted cash earnings per share also increased to $1.33 from $1.02. The company’s future performance is mainly dependent on its ability to open and add new stores through M&A activity, and squeeze maximum revenues from its existing and newly-acquired stores.

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) lost some of its appeal within the hedge fund industry during the September quarter, as the number of top money managers with positions in the company declined by eight to 52. It should be noted that the smart money investors tracked by our team still owned nearly 21% of the company’s shares on September 30. Peter Adam Hochfelder’s Brahman Capital acquired a 2.97 million-share stake in Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) during the latest quarter.

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