Billionaire David Abrams, the manager of Abrams Capital Management, has filed his latest 13F with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the reporting period as of the end of the first quarter of 2015. David Abrams is a value investor who invests only a small percentage of his assets in equities. He founded Abrams Capital in 1999 and his fund has returned 15% since its inception and currently holds nearly $8 billion in assets under management. The latest 13F revealed a total of 12 positions worth $1.3 billion. The top holdings of Abrams Capital are represented by The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), with the investor’s stakes in these companies remaining unchanged over the quarter.
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On the top spot in Abrams’ portfolio is The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU), in which Abrams Capital revealed ownership of 21.61 million shares, valued at $449.68 million. The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) is an $11.3-billion market cap company engaged in money transfer and payment services across the world. The company’s stock has risen over 35% since May 2014. The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) reported strong results for the first quarter of 2015, exceeding analysts’ estimates by posting net income of $203.9 million, or $0.39 per share, slightly up from $203 million, or $0.37 in the same quarter last year. Revenues dropped by 2% to $1.3 billion versus $1.4 billion year-over-year. However, revenues for the quarter increased 4% on a constant currency basis. Among the funds we track, John W. Rogers‘ Ariel Investments held 12.26 million shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) at the end of the first quarter.
A notable move that Abrams Capital made in the first quarter was boosting its stake by nearly 90% in Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ:MGI), a $530.4-million market-cap money transfer and payment services company, which is a competitor of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU). The fund disclosed owning 4.38 million Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ:MGI) shares, worth $37.81 million, becoming the ninth-largest holding of Abrams Capital in terms of value. Previously, Abrams Capital held 2.31 million shares of Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ:MGI).
The second-largest holding is represented by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), in which Abrams Capital held 4.98 million shares worth $202.47 million at the end of the first quarter. Recently, Reuters reported that Microsoft is not planning to acquire Salesforce.com, Inc (NYSE:CRM), citing the company’s high valuation. Many people thought that Microsoft would buy Salesforce, which leads the $20-billion-a-year cloud CRM sector, given Microsoft’s goal of getting $20 billion in annual cloud revenues by 2018. For the first quarter of 2015, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported a 6% increase in revenues to $21.7 billion versus $20.4 billion in the same quarter last year. Earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter were $0.61 per share versus $0.68 a year ago. The company’s stock gained 22.14% during the past year. Another investor with a big position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management, which disclosed owning 34.44 million shares of the company as of the end of the first quarter. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
Abrams Capital’s third favorite stock is Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), in which it reported ownership of 2.77 million shares, worth $150.69 million. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) is a community-based financial services company with $1.7 trillion in assets and a market cap of $288.9 billion, along with a P/E of 13.57. At the end of last month, the company reported a 7% increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.38 a share, with a yield of 2.70%. The largest shareholder of the company is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which held 470.29 million shares of the company at the end of the first quarter.
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