Mason Hawkins‘ Southeastern Asset Management is one of the largest funds that we track, managing an equity portfolio worth over $18 billion. In a couple of filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Southeastern disclosed raising its passive stakes in Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT) and Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ:DWA). In Level 3, Southeastern currently owns 55.48 million shares, up from 45.44 million shares held earlier, while in Dreamworks it raised its stake to 8.55 million shares, from 4.85 million shares reported in its 13F filing.
In this way, Southeastern currently owns around 16.5% of Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT). The fund however has not acquired shares but received them as the company completed the acquisition of TW Telecom Inc (NASDAQ:TWTC). Following the deal that was closed on October 31, the shareholders of TW Telecom received 0.7 shares of Level 3 and $10 in cash for each share of TW Telecom held. Southeastern owned around 14.98 million shares of TW Telecom before the deal.
Following the addition of new shares, Southeastern has further increased its largest stake in terms of value in its 13F portfolio. The fund has been a long term shareholder of Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT), holding shares for more than a decade. Meanwhile, Level 3 transferred its stock to the New Stock Exchange in 2011, and since then it more than doubled in value. With a market cap of $16 billion, Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT) is one of the largest diversified communication services companies. Aside from Southeaster another shareholder with a significant stake in the company is Prem Watsa‘s Fairfax Financial Holdings, which as of the end of September owns 12.93 million shares of the company.
In Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ:DWA), Southeastern’s stake amasses 11%. The fund added the company to its equity portfolio during the third quarter, as the stock declined by some 39% since the beginning of the year. Among the funds that we track, the investor with the largest position in Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ:DWA) is Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management which owns some 11.64 million shares as of the end of September.
Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ:DWA) has had a rough year as it turned to loss in the first two quarters and posting a decrease in revenues. After posting a net loss of $0.51 and $0.18 for the first and second quarters respectively, for the third quarter it posted a profit of $0.14. The company has also been investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission in relation to write down of some costs related to the production of its movie “Turbo.”
However, investors often consider such events as some temporary disturbances and are buying more shares considering that the market is overreacting on the news and looking at the big picture. In this way, during the third quarter, among the funds that we track, 19 reported holding shares of Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ:DWA) and even though this number fell from 22 funds in the previous quarter, the aggregate value of their positions appreciated by $179.44 million, to $629.62 million.
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