Billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson has acquired a new stake in the social networking giant Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), according to regulatory papers.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission early Monday, Paulson & Co., one of Wall Street’s most closely observed hedge funds said they had bought up 144,400 Facebook Class A shares.
Facebook however, wasn’t the filing’s only trade.
Paulson & Co. trimmed its positions in Allergan plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:AGN) from 1.45 million shares to 912,448 shares. The fund slashed its 14.62 million share stake in T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS) to just under 1 million, or 979,900 shares. Activision Blizzard, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:ATVI) position was also cut from 3.41 million shares to 1 million shares. Meanwhile, the fund doubled its stake in Office Depot Inc (NASDAQ:ODP) to 15.7 million from 7.8 million shares. It also added positions of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) with 1 million shares, VMware (NYSE:VMW) with 1.97 million shares, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) with 128,000 shares and FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) with 72,800 shares.
Paulson’s trades are closely monitored by investors. The highly regarded hedge fund manager predicted the implosion of the sub-prime market in 2007 and the collapse of banks and financial institutions in 2008.
In Other 13Fs News this Morning
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), (NYSE:BRK.B) has significantly upped their stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the last quarter, now worth some $1.45 billion. The conglomerate boosted the iPhone maker’s stake by 55% to more than 15.2 million shares as of June 30 from 9.81 million shares on March 31. The increase, which makes Buffett the 37th largest Apple shareholder, comes as George Soros, Carl Icahn, David Tepper, Leo Cooperman, and David Einhorn dumped their stakes.
Among other notable changes to Berkshire’s equity holdings include the stake in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.(NYSE:WMT) which was cut by 27.7 percent to 40.2 million shares, while the stake in Liberty Global plc (NASDAQ:LBTYA) saw a 29 percent increase to 30.7 million shares from 23.8 million shares. Deere & Company(NYSE:DE) was also cut to 21.96 million shares from 23.28 million shares.
Berkshire’s earnings report in recent weeks showed that the overall value of the conglomerate’s equity holdings was $102.563 billion, while the SEC’s 13F filing showed the balance as of June 30 being $129.7 billion, or an increase of 0.9 percent.
Soros Sells off Apple Stake
The famed billionaire investor sold off his small share position in Apple during the second quarter, while slashing his bet on e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). The filings show Soros owned no Apple shares as of June 30, after owning 3,100 shares as of March 31. Soros also slashed his eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) stake by 53 percent to 1.74 million shares from 3.704 million shares.
Overall, Soros Fund Management’s equity holdings increased more than 3 percent to $4.68 billion from $4.53 billion.
Carl Icahn Adds More Allergan Stock
Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn loaded up his portfolio with more than 3 million shares of a new position in the maker of Botox, Allergan in the second quarter. On May 31, Mr. Icahn disclosed in a statement on his website that he had bought “a large position” in Allergan. No specifics were given in terms of how large of a stake or when the purchase was made.
Meanwhile, Icahn’s latest 13F filing shows him trimming positions in Hertz Global Holdings, Inc (NYSE:HTZ), Paypal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN). Icahn also sold off his stake in Enzon Pharmaceuticals.
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