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 0.78

+0.01 +1.30%
Volume: 2,853,137
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AIG 30.91

+2.51 +8.84%
Volume: 16,067,452
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BGP 1.34

-0.06 -4.29%
Volume: 226,512
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BKS 23.18

-0.16 -0.69%
Volume: 443,394
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CVS 31.32

+0.31 +1.00%
Volume: 2,824,319
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DPS 26.45

+0.26 +0.99%
Volume: 227,095
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EMC 16.98

+0.15 +0.89%
Volume: 6,808,480
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FNM 0.92

+0.04 +4.55%
Volume: 5,938,231
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FRE 1.07

+0.04 +3.88%
Volume: 4,055,943
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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 243.44

+2.58 +1.07%
Volume: 414,633
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MBI 3.59

+0.13 +3.76%
Volume: 1,928,735
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TGT 47.22

+0.66 +1.42%
Volume: 2,149,030
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V 82.67

+1.67 +2.06%
Volume: 1,553,414
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WB 5.54

+0.00 +0.00%
Volume: 79,673,174
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WEN 4.15

+0.05 +1.22%
Volume: 894,621
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