Billionaire Mason Hawkins Can’t Get Enough Of These Two Stocks

In the case of Deltic Timber Corp (NYSE:DEL), Southeastern holds 1.28 million shares with shared voting power while 19,100 shares do not have voting power. The investment firm initiated a position in Deltic Timber during the third quarter of 2014. Although down over 2% year-to-date, Deltic Timber Corp (NYSE:DEL)’s stock price has appreciated by nearly 8% over the past year.

The hedge fund interest in the company has declined over the past quarter, since only four firms had invested a total of $113.89 million in Deltic Timber Corp (NYSE:DEL) at the end of March compared to six funds with $110.38 million at the end of the previous quarter. Before Southeastern hiked its stake in the $833.51 million natural resources company engaged in manufacturing lumber, Jean-Marie Eveillard‘s First Eagle Investment Management was the largest stockholder of Deltic Timber Corp (NYSE:DEL) owning some 1.10 million shares valued at $73.17 million.

Hawkins cut his fund’s holding in Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT), his top pick, by 17% during the first quarter to 45.24 million shares valued at $2.44 billion. The stake represents about 13.5% of the company’s outstanding common shares and 15.3% of Southeastern’s portfolio value. The stock of the $19.77 billion telecommunications company has gained more than 12% so far this year. Even though Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT)’s revenues of $2.05 billion for the first quarter missed the estimates by $10 million, its EPS of $0.35 was $0.02 ahead of estimates. The company also raised its guidance for 2015, pointing to growth in EBIDTA in the 14%-17% range, up from an earlier estimate of 12%-16%. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies holds 4.20 million shares of Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT) valued at $226.31 million, and is the second-largest stockholder of the company in our database after Southeastern.

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