Legendary Investor Mason Hawkins Bullish on a Range of Bets: Mondelez International Inc (MDLZ), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Legg Mason, Inc. (LM)

Southeastern created a new position in CNH Global NV (ADR) (NYSE:CNH), with a purchase of 1.4 million shares in Q4 of 2012. The company’s Board of Directors recently approved a merger plan into NewCo, a subsidiary of Fiat Industrial (FIATY). CNH reported net sales revenue of $19.4 billion for 2012, an increase of 8% versus the prior year.  A whopping 81% of sales were from agricultural equipment, with the remaining 19% coming from construction equipment. The Company further paid a special dividend of $10 per common share on December 18, 2012; upon announcement of this payment, its stock price fell by nearly 20% in one day. Still, the price has recovered somewhat and is up over 9% YTD, but it has dropped from highs of over $48 in January, to near the $44 mark of late.  This price just broke below the 50 day SMA, which may be a bearish sign.  Price action has also been volatile as of late, with a beta of 2.55.  Thus, investors might want to weigh the volatile nature of CNH before opening a position.

A final company in which Southeastern substantially increased its holdings in was Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR). Hawkins now holds over 6.1 million shares, an increase in its position of 1029% over Q3 of 2012.  Murphy Oil is an oil and gas exploration and production company with refining and marketing operations in the United States and the UK.  The Company recently released earnings, reporting a profit of $158.7 million, or 82 cents a share, versus a loss in the same quarter one year earlier of $113.9 million, or 59 cents a share. Revenue also increased from $7.4 billion to $6.8 billion year-over-year. The Company’s share price is up a modest 3.6% since the beginning of 2013, and is hovering slightly above its 50 day SMA, which appears to be providing support.

Investors looking to make longer term investments may do well to continue to monitor Southeastern’s future 13F filings to see what the firm is holding; it’s always worth paying attention to the smart money.

Disclosure: none