Ackman's Pershing Square Loads Up On Visa (V), Sells Dr Pepper (DPS) and Wendy's (WEN)

February 18, 2009 5:12 PM EST

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square hedge fund released its 13F for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 yesterday. Notably, Ackman bought more of the credit card processor Visa (NYSE: V) but sold out of MasterCard (NYSE: MA). He also significantly cut his stakes in Dr Pepper Snapple (NYSE: DPS) and Wendy's/Arby's (NYSE: WEN).

Ackman had some big winner in 2008, but also some big losers. Winners included short sales on MBIA (NYSE: MBI), Ambac (NYSE: ABK), Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) which were all destroyed from the credit/housing blow-up. Winning longs included Longs Drugs, which was sold to CVS (NYSE: CVS). Ackman's losers centered mainly around retail. Ackman's special fund to buy shares in Target (NYSE: TGT) has been destroyed, down a reported 90%. Other retail positions in Borders (NSYE: BGP) and Barnes and Noble (NYSE: BKS) were also big losers.

Summary of Major Changes in Ackman's Pershing Square Portfolio:


  • Showed new large stake in General Growth Properties (NYSE: GGP) (already known through 13D)
  • Raised stake in Visa (NYSE: V) by over 4 million share to 7.1 million shares
  • Changes in Target (NYSE: TGT) position
  • Slightly bumped stake in EMC (NYSE: EMC) to 58.6 million shares, or about 2.9% of the company
  • Lowered stake in Dr Pepper Snapple (NYSE: DPS) by over 11 million shares to 10.8 million shares
  • Lowered stake in Wendy's/Arby's (NYSE: WEN) by over 8.5 million shares to 47 million shares.
  • Sold out of 570K share stake of MasterCard (NYSE: MA)
  • Sold out of AIG (NYSE: AIG) (this was already known)
  • Sold out of Barnes and Noble (NYSE: BKS) (this was already known)
  • Maintained Borders (NYSE: BGP) stake (already known through 13D)


Two of Ackman's holdings, Longs Drug (NYSE: LDG) and Wachovia (NYSE: WB), were sold during the quarter.


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Stocks Mentioned

ABK 0.84

-0.02 -2.33%
Volume: 10,461,011
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AIG 34.68

-0.32 -0.91%
Volume: 4,239,637
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BGP 1.60

-0.14 -8.05%
Volume: 1,011,141
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BKS 24.76

+2.51 +11.28%
Volume: 2,322,002
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CVS 31.53

-0.07 -0.22%
Volume: 12,349,193
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DPS 27.02

-0.29 -1.06%
Volume: 1,908,548
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EMC 16.91

-0.03 -0.18%
Volume: 13,181,070
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FNM 0.99

-0.01 -1.00%
Volume: 19,833,268
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FRE 1.12

-0.01 -0.88%
Volume: 10,259,154
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GGP 1.05

+0.00 +0.00%
Volume: 57,425
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LDG 71.51

+0.00 +0.00%
Volume: 1,136,529
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MA 239.84

+2.19 +0.92%
Volume: 1,167,999
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MBI 3.62

+0.18 +5.23%
Volume: 8,297,416
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TGT 47.83

+0.37 +0.78%
Volume: 4,334,340
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V 81.79

+1.17 +1.45%
Volume: 2,874,689
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WB 5.54

+0.00 +0.00%
Volume: 79,673,174
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WEN 4.16

+0.03 +0.73%
Volume: 2,264,761
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