Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK), Talisman Energy Inc. (USA) (TLM): Carl Icahn’s Latest Move in Energy and Other Top Oil Bets

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Icahn holds a 71.20 million share stake in CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI) as of the end of 2014, which accounts for a whopping 80% of the company’s common shares and gives the activist full control of the board. It also puts him close to a position where he could merge CVR with another one of his energy holdings, should he build at least a 90% stake. Icahn’s position has remained unchanged dating all the way back to the middle of 2012, and was valued at $2.76 billion at the end of the year. Naturally, given Icahn’s large ownership position, the next largest position among the funds we track is quite small. It is held by Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, which initiated a new position of 271,100 shares during the last three months of 2014.CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI)

Shares of CVR Energy are up in value by more than 50% since the middle of 2012, and weathered the recent oil price plunge admirably, dipping only 13.56% since the middle of 2014 while much of the rest of the energy sector got battered. Part of that can be attributed to the solid dividend yield of 4.79%, one of the best in the industry. Forbes reported in the middle of January that shares of CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI) had entered ‘oversold’ territory, a technical indicator that estimated that selling of the stock would soon wither, with an expressed rebound in the price of shares from there. Shares are up by more than $8, or nearly 25%, since then.

Icahn’s third energy pick (Chesapeake was the second-most valuable) was in Talisman Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:TLM), a Canadian upstream oil and gas company which agreed to be purchased by Repsol in the middle of December for $8.3 billion. That purchase helped Icahn recoup some of his losses on the stock, which he first disclosed an activist position on in October 2013. The stock had fallen by over 70% since then in the days leading up to the merger announcement, at which point it more than doubled . Icahn held 76.06 million shares of Talisman Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:TLM) at the end of 2014, worth $595.55 million. The position was unchanged throughout 2014. John Paulson’s Paulson & Co opened a large new position of 70.0 million shares of Talisman during the fourth quarter, making it the second-largest shareholder at the end of 2014, among the funds we track.

Disclosure: None

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