Bill Ackman Cuts Mondelez Stake, Carl Icahn Trims Position in This Software Maker, Plus 2 Other Moves

Both small- and large-scale investors share a valuable asset when it comes to equity investing: information. By default, better-informed investors should generally outperform those investors possessing less information. As the saying goes, information is the key to success in today’s business environment. With greater disclosure from the hedge fund industry, retail investors can get a glimpse into the minds of the world’s most successful money managers. For that specific reason, this article will discuss four filings recently submitted with the SEC by several widely-known hedge fund vehicles including as Pershing Square and Icahn Capital LP.

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In a freshly-amended 13D filing, Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square reported owning 88.20 million shares of Mondelez International Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ), which account for 5.6% of the company’s outstanding shares. This stake includes 22.94 million shares of common stock and 65.26 million shares of common stock underlying American-style call options. The highly-scrutinized activist hedge fund owned 43.37 million shares of common stock on December 31, excluding shares underlying forward purchase contracts or shares underlying call options. Therefore, Pershing Square trimmed its stake in the snack company by 20.42 million shares recently; a move that should not represent a reason for concern among investors. According to the public filing, Mr. Ackman’s activist firm reduced the stake in Mondelez International Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) because the stake had become an outsized position in their portfolio in light of its initially large size and its outperformance relative to other holdings. This move comes after Pershing Square lost approximately $1 billion on Tuesday from its investment in Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc. (NYSE:VRX), after the embattled drugmaker reported weaker-than expected bottom-line results, weak guidance, as well as possible default risk on its bonds. Going back to the maker of Oreo biscuits, shares of Mondelez have advanced by 18% over the past 12 months despite having lost 8% thus far in 2016. The company’s net revenue for 2015 was $29.64 billion, which represents a sizable decrease from $34.24 billion in revenue in 2014. Nonetheless, Mondelez’s organic net revenue increased by 3.7% year-over-year in 2015, after reaching a growth rate of 2.5% in 2014. Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners reported owning 48.03 million shares of Mondelez International Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) in its 13F filing for the December quarter.

Let’s head to the next two pages of this article, where we discuss three separate filings submitted by Icahn Capital LP and two other hedge fund vehicles.