Levin Capital Made A Big Investment In These Stocks In Q2

At the end of the second quarter, Levin Capital’s position in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) consisted of 8.20 million shares valued at $161.86 million, after the fund raised its stake in the stock by a whopping 4,267% during the quarter. The stock now represents 2.39% of its 13F portfolio, up from a mere 0.06% going into the second quarter. Year-to-date, the stock’s performance has been wanting, having lost 21.76% and being down by 14.53% over the past three months. The company recently announced that its high-precision opto-mechanical assembly is being used by NASA in its imaging system in NASA’s New Horizons mission. The Corning, New York-based manufacturer of glass and ceramics declared a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share, payable on September 30, to shareholders of record as of August 31, 2015, representing an annualized dividend yield of 2.52%. At the end of the second quarter, Pzena Investment Management, led by Richard S. Pzena, held a total of 7.68 million shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) with a market value of $151.59 million after cutting its stake by 41,465 shares. Winton Capital Management was also long in this stock at the end of the second quarter. It had a position of 5.05 million shares valued at $99.60 million after significantly raising its stake in the stock, by 1.13 million shares.

Another stock that featured among Levin Capital’s bullish bets in the second quarter was McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD). The fund bought 713,096 shares of the stock during the second quarter to raise its position to 1.66 million shares valued at $157.41 million as of June 30. For the first time in 24 years, the world’s largest food chain will be shrinking in the U.S., its home turf. The firm, which faces sales and branding problems, will be closing down 184 locations and opening only 125 new ones this year. Since 2011, the shares of McDonald’s have been largely flat, while the S&P500 has jumped by well over 60% during the same span. This year, McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) is already down by 21.76%. At the end of the second quarter of 2015, First Eagle Investment Management, led by Jean-Marie Eveillard, was long in the stock, owning 5.89 million shares valued at $559.86 million. Marathon Asset Management, managed by Bruce J. Richards and Louis Hanover, held 1.10 million shares of the stock with a market value of $104.86 million, having sold 255,420 shares during the quarter.

Disclosure: None