PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) had modest gains of 1.80% during the first quarter despite being one of the five stocks that hedge funds were yanking their capital from in droves during the fourth quarter. Peltz was not one of them, holding steady with his position of 17.87 million shares, unchanged from the previous quarter. It was valued at $1.69 billion at the end of 2014. PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP), along with arch-rival The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO), has struggled to counter declining sales as consumer tastes shift to healthier foods and drinks. One bright spot for both companies is the burgeoning business they are doing overseas, particularly in developing markets. However those sales were also negatively impacted by the strong U.S dollar, which has only strengthened further in 2015. Donald Yacktman’s Yacktman Asset Management is the largest PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) shareholder in our database, owning 26.98 million shares.
Trian has a large position of 46.30 million shares valued at $1.68 billion in Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ), formerly the snacks division of Kraft Foods Group Inc (NASDAQ:KRFT). Peltz was a major shareholder of Kraft before that split, though he focused his efforts on Mondelez afterwards, missing out on the recent merger between Kraft and H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ). Instead he built a large stake in Mondelez and pushed for them to merge with PepsiCo. He eventually gained a board seat at Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) in early 2014 and relented in his push for the sale of the company, instead turning his attention to improving its profit margins and expanding its market share. Billionaires Mason Hawkins and Lei Zhang were among the other investors with large positions in Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ), which dipped 0.22% in the first quarter.
Peltz has been a major shareholder of Ingersoll-Rand plc (NYSE:IR) since early 2012, and has enjoyed strong returns from the capital goods stock, one of the most popular among the funds in our database, ever since. That continued in the first quarter with returns of 7.88%, pushing it to gains of nearly 125% since the beginning of 2012. Peltz lobbied for Ingersoll-Rand plc (NYSE:IR) to spin off its security business in 2012, which it eventually did, and also had a seat on the company’s board for a time before voluntarily giving it up due to other commitments. He remains the largest shareholder of Ingersoll-Rand plc (NYSE:IR) in our database with 12.82 million shares valued at $812.73 million, followed by fellow billionaires Daniel S. Och and Ken Griffin.
Wendys Co (NASDAQ:WEN) had a strong first quarter, rising by 21.25% and helping to push Peltz’s fund into the black amid the marginal performance of many of his top picks. Peltz has a position of 64.80 million shares of the fast-food chain, unchanged from the previous quarter, and valued at $585.15 million. Other shareholders began wisely opening positions in Wendys Co (NASDAQ:WEN) during the fourth quarter as fund ownership increased to 27 from 19, making it one of the most popular restaurant stocks. Among the new shareholders is billionaire Steve Cohen, while Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management maintained a large position in Wendys Co (NASDAQ:WEN).
Disclosure: None
