John Paulson's Paulson & Co Q4 13F Breakdown: Greatly Expands Positions in Banks, Remains Heavy In Gold

Hedge fund titan John Paulson released the 13F for his Paulson & Co fund for the quarter ended December 31, 2009 after the close.

The value of the disclosed portfolio is down from $20.46 billion at September 30, 2009 to $19.8 billion at December 31, 2009, but it should be noted that cash, short positions and various other securities are not required to be disclosed in the 13F filing.

During the quarter, Paulson greatly increased his exposure to the U.S. financial sector - raising his stakes in Citigroup (NYSE: C), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), Capital One (NYSE: COF), Marshall & Ilsley (NYSE: MI), Conseco Inc. (NYSE: CNO) and Suntrust Bank (NYSE: STI). Also, Paulson showed new positions in Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), State Street (NYSE: STT) and Valley National Bancorp (NYSE: VLY) and dropped his hedge on his financial bets by closing his position in ETF Ultrashort Financial (NYSE: SKF). Paulson also continues to have a hefty position being long gold through various securities.

Below a full summary of his notable moves:

Notable New Stakes:

• Apollo Group Inc. (Nasdaq: APOL) 829,000 shares
  
• CIT Group (NYSE: CIT) 4,391,155 shares (likely related to conversion from debt to equity on bankruptcy emergence)
  
• Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) 44,000,000 shares
  
• Directv (NYSE: DTV) 5,104,281 shares
  
• Kraft Food (NYSE: KFT) 5,000,000 shares
  
• Lear (NYSE: LEA) 1,381,785 share (could be related to conversion from debt to equity on bankruptcy emergence)
  
• Mead Johnson Nutrition (NYSE: MJN) 4,000,000 shares
  
• Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) 15,600,000 shares (likely related to acquisition of Wyeth, which was a large position)
  
• Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) 10,000,000 shares
  
• State Street (NYSE: STT) 2,000,000 shares
  
• Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN) 2,239,924 shares
  
• Valley National Bancorp (NYSE: VLY) 3,000,000 shares
  
• Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) 17,500,000 shares
  
• XTO Energy (NYSE: XTO) 10,000,000 shares

Raised Stakes:

• Citigroup (NYSE: C) from 300,000,000 to 506,700,000 shares.
  
• Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) from 159,794,229 common shares to 151,034,229 common shares and 13,760,000 units.
  
• JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) from 2,000,000 shares to 7,000,000 shares and 1,8727,997 warrants.
  
• Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. (NYSE: AHT) from 782,500 shares to 3,000,000 shares
  
• Capital One (NYSE: COF) maintained 1,7000,000 common share position but added warrants on 3,992,520 shares
  
• Conseco Inc. (NYSE: CNO) 3,600,000 shares to 24,455,000 shares
  
• Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) from 30,780,800 shares to 31,500,000 shares
  
• Marshall & Ilsley (NYSE: MI) from 12,000,000 shares to 26,050,000 shares
  
• Suntrust Bank (NYSE: STI) from 1,500,000 shares to 30,380,700 shares

Notable Maintained Stakes:

• Anglogold Ashanti Ltd (NYSE: AU) 42,849,864 shares
  
• Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) 99,135,000 shares
  
• SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) 31,500,000 shares

Notable Lowered Stakes:

• Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) from 35,000,000 shares to 19,343,700 shares
  
• CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (CX) from 7,000,000 to 0
  
• Ultrashort Financial (NYSE: SKF) from 2,000,000 shares to 0
  
• Varian Inc (NYSE: VAR) from 2,000,000 shares to 0

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