Pershing Square’s Favorite Stock Picks

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square made a lot of changes to its portfolio. Here is a summary of these changes:

Ackman Ups the Ante on the FO Horse

By the looks of it, Ackman may be at it again. At end the third quarter, Ackman had roughly $6 billion in his Pershing Square portfolio. Of that, over 18% was devoted to Fortune Brands (FO). FO had been Ackman’s third largest position in the second quarter at just under $1.1 billion. Ackman’s FO position now tops his position in JCP, which was his largest in the second quarter at $1.34 billion.

Top Holdings in Ackman’s Pershing Square Portfolio

Ackman did not increase his position in JCP, nor in General Growth Properties (GGP), which was the second largest position in Ackman’s portfolio during the second quarter. At the end of the third quarter, it ranked third in his portfolio. KFT had ranked fifth in Ackman’s portfolio during the second quarter but, as of the end of September, it ranks fourth, after Ackman increased Pershing Square’s position in the company by 13.28%. Citigroup (C), which had been Ackman’s fourth largest position in the second quarter, slipped to the fifth largest position. Ackman did increase Pershing Square’s holding in the company during the third quarter, by 11% in fact. Citigroup had slipped in rankings because Ackman increased his other top holdings more.

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