Hedge Funds Sell Pharmaceuticals, Financial Stocks in 3rd Quarter

Some of the biggest names in the hedge fund industry revamped their portfolios in the third quarter. Among the highlights, several funds sold their positions in pharmaceutical companies and financial companies.

Hedge Fund Investment in Pharmaceutical Companies

Pfizer (PFE) didn’t fair well during the third quarter. David Tepper’s Appaloosa sold out of the company, so did Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital. Even Jim Cramer spoke out against PFE, saying it was overpriced (read about it here). Of course, not all fund managers were of the same opinion about PFE. Thomas Bailard of Bailard Inc upped his position in PFE by 489%. He was more optimistic on another pharmaceutical company.  Thomas Bailard sold out of Eli Lilly & Co (LLY) (read about it here). Bruce Berkowitz’s Fairholme Fund sold out of LLY as well. LLY wasn’t the only pharmaceutical stock that got the cold shoulder during the third quarter.

Hedge Fund Investment in Financial Stocks

John Paulson, Paulson & Co sold out of its JP Morgan Chase (JPM) stock, selling all 4,700,000 of his shares in the company (check out Paulson’s third quarter portfolio here). Andreas Halvorsen also sold out of his position in the company. His Viking Global had had 9,539,400 shares in the company before Halvorsen sold out in the third quarter. Other hedge fund managers, like David Tepper, were equally bearish on financials. Tepper’s Appaloosa Management sold out 10,000,000 shares in the third quarter. Several fund managers sold out of Citigroup (C) as well. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management sold its entire position of 5,247 shares. Richard Perry’s Perry Capital also sold out his position in Citigroup, all 1,970,000 shares.