Mason Hawkins‘ Southeastern Asset Management has disclosed two bullish moves regarding its positions in Graham Holdings Co (NYSE:GHC) and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (NYSE:SNI). In Graham Holdings, the fund raised its stake to approximately 762,200 class B shares from 642,700 shares held previously and in Scripps, the fund disclosed holding around 12.36 million class A shares, versus 3.47 million shares held previously. In this way, Southeastern currently owns 16.5% of Graham’s class B stock and 11.7% of Scripps’ class A stock, both positions being passive by nature.
Southeastern Asset Management is an old fund which was founded in Tennessee in 1975 and currently expanded and comprises locations also in London, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. The fund manages an equity portfolio worth over $18 billion that is invested across many sectors, such as Financial, Basic Materials, and Technology. While the portfolio is relatively diversified, the top two stocks amass over 20% of its value and are represented by Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT), of which the fund owns 47.11 million shares; and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK), in which Southeastern’s position amasses 64.30 million shares. Southeastern has been a long-term shareholder of both companies and while Level 3 Communications appreciated during the last several years, the stock of Chesapeake declined.
Southeastern is currently the largest institutional investor in Graham Holdings Co (NYSE:GHC) . Another investor is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway which owns only 107,600 class B shares, equal to 1.72% of class. However, Berkshire’s stake used to be much more significant, the firm holding 1.72 million shares, but reduced the holding under the terms of a stock swap deal in exchange for a subsidiary of Graham.
Graham Holdings Co (NYSE:GHC) reported at the end of October a net income of $76.4 million, equal to $13.12 per share, which is significantly up from $30.1 million, or $4.05 per share for the same period of last year. Also in October, the company sold its 16.5% stake in Cars.com to Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI) for $2.5 billion and named Timothy O’Shaughnessy (former CEO and co-founder of LivingSocial) as its president.
In Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (NYSE:SNI), Southeastern has been holding a position since the third quarter of 2011. The stock gained over 80% since then. Last week the company reported its financial results for the third quarter, posting an annual 4.5% increase in revenue to $644 million and EPS of $0.93, up from $0.87 a year ago.
Aside from Southeastern, another investor betting on Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (NYSE:SNI) is Jeffrey Gates’ Gates Capital Management, which owns 1.86 million shares as of the end of June, followed by Tom Russo’s Gardner Russo & Gardner with 1.28 million shares.
Disclosure: none
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