The most valuable position the fund held on December 31, 2018, was in Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON). This is a multinational conglomerate company that produces a wide range of consumer products and has a market cap of $112.70 billion. During the fourth quarter, the fund had raised its stake in it by 56% to 581,504 shares with a value of $76.83 million. Over the last five years, the company’s stock gained 67.36% and on February 20th, 2019 it had a closing price of $154.58. Honeywell International is trading at a P/E ratio of 17.19. For the fourth quarter of 2018, the company reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.91, compared to adjusted EPS of $1.89 for the same quarter in 2017. More importantly, Honeywell International announced its earnings expectations for 2019 and forecasted EPS of $7.80 to $8.10 and sales of $36.0 billion to $36.9 billion. At the end of the third quarter of 2018, there were 47 smart money investors from Insider Monkey’s database long this stock, down by two from one quarter earlier. Gotham Asset Management had its second biggest position at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ). The fund held 1.17 million Verizon’s shares, which were worth $66.03 million.
Among the largest new positions the fund acquired during Q4 of 2018, were PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI). In PayPal, a company that provides worldwide online payment services, Gotham Asset Management obtained a position that includes 731,138 shares with a value of $61.48 million. On February 20th, the company’s stock had a closing price of $94.73, gaining 9.87% over the last six months. The company is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.24 and has a market cap of $110.84 billion. At the end of Q3 2018, 97 investors from our table were bullish on this stock, which represents an increase of 12% from one quarter earlier. In a company that provides a plethora of healthcare-related services, Cigna Corp, the Gotham Asset Management established a position worth around $42 million, on the account of 221,113 shares outstanding.
During the fourth quarter of 2018, Gotham Asset Management decided to dump some companies, selling its entire positions. Among the biggest drops were Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU), in which the fund previously held 281,492 shares with a value of $64.01 million, United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) whose 155,182 shares with a value of $25.39 million the fund sold out, and Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) in which the fund held a stake worth $24.52 million, on the account of 308,129 shares.
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This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
