John A. Zaro is the CEO of Bourgeon Capital, a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts and holds a BA of Arts in Political Science/Economics from Stanford University. Bourgeon Capital has recently disclosed its 13F portfolio, which has a value of $163 million in equities and contains 106 long positions. As of the end of March, Bourgeon Capital’s largest positions are represented by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB), Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (NYSE:PCL), Johnson Controls Inc (NYSE:JCI) and Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB).
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John Zaro of Bourgeon Capital
In the next sections, we will analyze John A. Zaro’s largest holdings as of the end of March. On the first spot is JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), in which Bourgeon Capital disclosed a $5.45 million position that contains 90,004 shares, which represent 3.34% of the fund’s equity portfolio. For the first quarter of 2015, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) reported a net income of $5.9 billion, an increase of 20% on the year, or $1.45 per share, and revenue of $24 billion. Aside from Bourgeon Capital, other shareholders of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) include Lansdowne Partners, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management and Edgar Wachenheim’s Greenhaven Associates.
Mr. Zaro’s stake in Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) is the second-largest in its equity portfolio with a value of $4.98 million. The total number of shares held by Bourgeon Capital in the company has decreased by around 14% on the quarter to 98,350 shares. According to its financial report for the first quarter of 2015, the company posted an adjusted EBITDA of $917 million, up by 19% on the year on the back of its mergers with Access Midstream, Atlantic-Gulf and Northeast G&P. Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) also posted a net income of $89 million for the first quarter of 2015, compared with $352 million in the same period of the previous year. Other large shareholders of Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) among the funds we track are Corvex Capital, managed by Keith Meister, Eric W. Mandelblatt’s Soroban Capital Partners and Fir Tree, founded by Jeffrey Tannenbaum.
Bourgeon Capital boosted its stake in Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (NYSE:PCL) by 30,880 shares to 110,245 shares valued at $4.79 million. Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (NYSE:PCL) reported in its financial results for the first quarter, earnings of $42 million or $0.24 per diluted share, on revenue of $406 million, versus a profit of $30 million ($0.17 per share) and revenue of $317 million a year earlier. In addition, during the January-March period, the company repurchased approximately 445,000 shares of common stock at $41.97 per unit. Some of the largest shareholders of Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (NYSE:PCL) among the funds from our database are Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.
In Johnson Controls Inc (NYSE:JCI), Bourgeon Capital disclosed holding 88,937 shares valued at $4.49 million. Following strong financial results for the first quarter, which came in above the expectations, two analysts raised their price targets on Johnson Controls Inc (NYSE:JCI)’s stock. Citigroup and Nomura raised their targets to $54.00 and $50.00 respectively, but reiterated their ‘Neutral’ ratings. Jim Simons and Joel Greenblatt are among the billionaire investors that own substantial positions in Johnson Controls Inc (NYSE:JCI) as of the end of 2014.
Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) represents John A. Zaro’s fifth-largest position, as the hedge fund disclosed holding 53,265 shares worth $4.44 million. Affected by the decline in oil prices, Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB)’s earnings for the last quarter fell by 39% to $0.76 per share, but the company has announced some cost cutting initiatives to compensate, laying off 20,000 employees and reducing its capital expenditure guidance to $2.50 billion for 2015, versus $4.0 billion last year. These initiatives will help to offset the decline of Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB)’s stock, which is down by 8% over the last 52 weeks, though it has appreciated by almost 9% since the beginning of 2015. Other large shareholders are Greenhaven Associates managed by Edgar Wachenheim, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management and Adage Capital Management.
Disclosure: none
