In its most recent 13F filing with the SEC for the reporting period quarter ending June 30, Jeffrey Ubben‘s ValueAct capital revealed an equity portfolio worth nearly $19 billion. Mr. Ubben, who founded ValueAct in 2000 and serves as its CEO and CIO, is well-known on the Street for being an activist and long-term investor. ValueAct runs a concentrated portfolio with only 23 positions, while its top 10 holdings accounted for 86.91% of the equity portfolio at the end of June. In this article we will take a closer look at Valueact’s largest holdings, which include Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL), Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX), and Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI).
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During the second quarter, ValueAct reduced its stake in Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX), which has been among its top holdings for a long time, by 22% to almost 15 million shares worth $3.33 billion. The fund initiated a stake in the company nine years ago and is among the company’s largest shareholders (Mr. Ubben serves on the company’s board). Meanwhile the stock surged by around 2,200% since ValueAct added it to its portfolio. Since the beginning of 2015, Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX)’s stock is up almost 75%. The company has recently surpassed Royal Bank of Canada in terms of market capitalization and has become Canada’s most valuable company. On July 27, Morgan Stanley reiterated its ‘Overweight’ rating on the stock and raised its price target to $284 from $235. Another notorious activist investor Bill Ackman of Pershing Square initiated a stake in the company during the first quarter and his fund still owns 19.47 million shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) as of the end of June.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) still represents Valueact’s second-largest holding, which contains 75 million shares valued at $3.32 billion, up from $3.06 billion at the end of March. Analysts are generally bullish Microsoft and cite the smooth release of Windows 10 and the company not delaying booking a $7.5 loss due to the Nokia transaction. On August 13, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded the stock to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ and reiterated the price target of $55. Among others, Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1% to slightly under 18 million shares during the April – June period.
After increasing its stake by 62% during the first quarter, Valueact further raised its position in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) during the second quarter by 11% to almost 37.52 million shares, which were worth over $1.61 billion at the end of June. The company recently reported that the $34.6 billion merger with Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI) announced in November last year has hit a roadblock due to antitrust concerns. For the second quarter of 2015, Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) delivered EPS of $0.44 on revenue of $5.92 billion, beating the estimates of $0.29 in EPS and revenue of $5.78 billion. Another large shareholder of Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL), Glenn Greenberg‘s Brave Warrior Capital inched up its stake by 3% during the second quarter to over 5.47 million shares.
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX), which represented ValueAct’s eighth-largest holding at the end of March, jumped to the fourth spot after a 42% increase to 44.58 million shares, valued at $1.43 billion. The stock had been trading relatively flat until it slumped at the beginning of August on the back of financial results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2015. However, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX) managed to beat the earnings and revenue estimates and posted EPS of $0.39 and revenue of $6.72 billion for the quarter. Boykin Curry‘s Eagle Capital Management acquired 489,600 shares of the company during the second quarter and disclosed ownership of 28.20 million class B shares of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX) in its latest 13F.
ValueAct also kept its stake in Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI) unchanged at 23.24 million shares worth over $1.43 billion. For the second quarter, the company’s revenue of $3.97 billion beat the estimates of $3.88 billion, but the loss of $0.14 per share was higher than the expected loss of $0.13. After having reduced its stake in Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI) by 7% during the first quarter, Ken Griffin‘s Citadel Investment Group again cut its holding by 6% to almost 3.42 million shares during the second quarter.
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