Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK), Seadrill Ltd (SDRL), Banco Santander, S.A. (ADR) (SAN): Here’s What This Big Market-Beater Has Been Buying and Selling

Douglass Winthrop Advisors reduced its stake in lots of companies, including Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT). Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) has just split its pharmaceutical business from its nutrition and devices businesses. The new pharmaceutical entity is AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV), while Abbott retained the strong nutritionals business and vascular businesses. The company’s first-quarter results were solid, with the nutrition division especially strong, particularly in emerging markets. Its devices business was less strong, but it has just had a new stent approved.

Finally, Douglass Winthrop’s biggest closed positions included Mueller Water Products. Other closed positions of interest include Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX). The world’s largest publicly traded copper producer has seen its stock struggle lately, though it does offer a dividend yield of 3.8%. The company has diversified its operations considerably, by buying a pair of oil and gas producers. It was hurt by the falling price of copper and slowing growth in China. The business also faces challenges such as labor strikes and accidents (a tunnel recently collapsed in Indonesia, for example).

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The article Here’s What This Big Market-Beater Has Been Buying and Selling originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Selena Maranjian.

Longtime Fool contributor Selena Maranjian, whom you can follow on Twitter, owns shares of Ford and Seadrill. The Motley Fool recommends Ford and Seadrill and owns shares of Ford, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, and Seadrill.

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