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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ABK 0.84

-0.34 -28.81%
Volume: 68,169,972
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AIG 38.22

+2.04 +5.64%
Volume: 25,261,315
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BGP 2.14

+0.05 +2.39%
Volume: 234,554
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BKS 19.73

+1.17 +6.30%
Volume: 2,892,605
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CVS 30.01

-0.89 -2.88%
Volume: 22,167,712
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DPS 27.62

+0.95 +3.56%
Volume: 2,038,784
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EMC 17.04

+0.03 +0.18%
Volume: 17,528,625
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FNM 1.04

-0.01 -0.95%
Volume: 14,240,370
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FRE 1.19

-0.03 -2.46%
Volume: 7,877,617
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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 239.22

-2.97 -1.23%
Volume: 1,465,437
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MBI 3.68

-1.12 -23.33%
Volume: 24,338,276
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TGT 50.36

-0.09 -0.18%
Volume: 3,256,955
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V 80.96

-0.20 -0.25%
Volume: 3,597,618
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WB 5.54

+0.00 +0.00%
Volume: 79,673,174
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WEN 4.30

-0.12 -2.71%
Volume: 4,388,676
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