Jeffrey Ubben‘s ValueAct Capital has reported cutting its positions in Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) and CBRE Group Inc (NYSE:CBG), as several new filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed. ValueAct has sold some 11.32 million shares of Motorola Solutions in one transaction at a price of $66.26 per unit. Moreover, the fund reported the sale of around 579,900 class A shares of CBRE Group in three deals, at an average price of $32.07 per share. Following the moves, ValueAct holds close to 17.59 million shares of Motorola Solutions and 31.32 million shares of CBRE Group Inc (NYSE:CBG).
ValueAct’s position in Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) is activist by nature and amasses 7.8% of the company’s common stock. The investor has also a representative on the company’s board, Bradley Singer. The fund sold shares to Motorola Solutions under the terms of a stock purchase agreement, the total value of the deal reaching around $750 million, and has been carried out under Motorola’s $12 billion buyback program.
ValueAct has been holding shares of Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) since the first quarter of 2012, but prior to that it held shares of Motorola Corp. Since the fund first disclosed holding shares of Motorola Solutions, its stock appreciated by around 35%, while ValueAct has not made any significant changes to the position. However, ValueAct’s strategy implies long-term investment and owns stocks for several years to gain value.
In addition to ValueAct, William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management owns around 11.99 million shares of Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) as of the end of June, followed by David Cohen and Harold Levy Iridian Asset Management with 3.55 million shares. Moreover, the company is also backed by such famous investors as George Soros’ Soros Fund Management, which held 1.84 million shares and Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors with 2.94 million shares.
In addition, ValueAct has been selling shares of CBRE Group Inc (NYSE:CBG) over the last couple of weeks. The fund has recently revelead the sale of other 262,731 class A shares of the company in three transactions at an average price of $32.16 per unit. Aside from CBRE and Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI), Jeff Ubben has been picking profits from another long-term position, Rockwell Collins, Inc. (NYSE:COL), of which ValueAct disposed of 3.39 million shares a couple of days ago; the fund currently owns an activist stake, which contains 7.80 million shares, equal to 5.8% of the company.
Taking into account how well Mr. Ubben picks worked over the long-term, it is important to follow his bullish moves, and there have been some interesting acquisitions recently. A couple of weeks ago, ValueAct Capital initiated an activist stake in Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU), which contains 8.19 million shares, equal to 5.7% of common stock. Moreover, the fund has been buying shares of Allison Transmission Holdings Inc (NYSE:ALSN) for the last several months. In the last filing, ValueAct reported the acquisition of 275,000 shares, taking the position to 19.13 million shares. ValueAct initiated its buying spree of Allison Transmission Holdings at the beginning of October, by acquiring 550,000 shares, taking the stake to 18.58 million shares, equal to 10.5% of the company. Moreover, recently, Mr. Ubben has been appointed as a director on the board of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) and ValueAct has increased its stake to 18.93 million shares, representing 5.6% of the company.
Since following the moves of great investors such as Mr. Ubben is important, because this strategy can provide market-beating investment opportunities to smaller investors, we keep track of all ValueAct’s moves, as well as many other notorious money managers. So, we will keep you in the loop regarding other major steps taken by biggest hedge fund managers.
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