In the current round of 13F filings, hedge funds and other institutional investors are disclosing their equity portfolios as held at the end of the last year. And while big hedge funds usually release their 13F forms later, one of the big players in the investment world has already disclosed its holdings owned at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013. In this piece we are going to talk about billionaire Ken Fisher and its fund Fisher Asset Management.
Fisher Asset Management in its latest 13F, filed recently with the Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosed an equity portfolio with a total value of about $44.36 billion, slightly up from $40.58 million disclosed in the previous quarter. Since empirical studies show that following the activity of big hedge funds can actually help retail investors, we have picked the five largest holdings from the Fisher’s equity portfolio, in terms of value, as at the end of last year. According to the studies, this strategy might help small investors beat the market by as much as 18 percentage points per year, over a long-time (see more details here).
While the first several large holdings from the 13F are represented mainly by Exchange-traded funds, we have selected the companies, in which the fund holds its largest long positions. The first one is American Express Company (NYSE:AXP). The fund added some shares to the holding, upping to over 10.91 million shares, from around 10.90 million held previously. The value of the position, however, surged significantly to $990.10 million, which made the stock climb up several positions.
American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)’s stock gained 20% during the previous quarter. The company reported in October a net income of $1.4 billion for the third quarter of the year, which shows a 9% growth over the year. At the same time, the EPS went up by 15% to $1.25, which was also slightly above the expectations of $2.12. For the fourth quarter, the consensus outlook for American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)’s EPS stands also at $1.25 per share.
The next on the list is Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), in which Fisher Asset Management disclosed a $959.61 million stake. The position amasses almost 2.406 million shares, basically flat, in comparison with 2.403 million held at the end of September. For the third quarter, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported a net loss of $41 million, which represents an improvement from a loss of $274 million in the same period of 2012. At the same time, the net sales of the company went up by 24% on the year to $17.1 billion.
At the same time, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) during the third quarter introduced several new devices, such as Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HDX. The company expects its net sales to increase up to 25% on the year in the fourth quarter, and be in the range $23.5 billion and $26.5 billion.
In Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), Fisher Asset Management, disclosed the third-largerst holding, which amasses 30.63 million shares, with a reported value of $938.09 million. The position has been decreased from 30.74 million shares, although its value went up significantly. The stock of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) gained over 23% during the past year. The analysts estimate the stock as “Overweight,” with the target price around $33 per share.
Out of the funds we track, Fisher holds the largest stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE). Another one is John A. Levin‘s Levin Capital Strategies, which at the end of September held over 10.81 million shares. Another one is Arrowstreet Capital, led by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, which disclosed ownership of 8.95 million shares.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is represented in the Fisher’s equity portfolio by a $931.06 million stake, which contain 10.17 million shares. The fund kept the holding almost unchanged during the fourth quarter. The stock of Johnson & Johnson gained 6% during the fourth quarter of the year, while during the whole 2013, the share price advanced by over 30%.
The average price-to-earnings-to-growth ratio of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is at around 2.69, while the analyst set an average target of $94.12, which is around the current stock price of the company. Some other investors holding the stock are Yacktman Asset Management, led by Donald Yacktman, with 9.62 million shares at the end of last September, and D E Shaw, managed by David E. Shaw, which boosted its stake by over 40% in the July-September period and currently holds 5.16 million shares.
United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) comes in as the fifth most valuable holding in the Fisher’s equity portfolio. The fund has been bullish on the stock, raising it to 7.93 million shares, versus 7.78 million owned previously. The value of the stake currently amounts to $901.93 million.
The stock of United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) had a solid 2013, posting an appreciation of over 40%. In a December meeting, United Technologies stated that it expects an EPS of $6.15 for the previous year, while sales are forecasted to amount to $63 billion, which is more or less in line with what the analysts expect.
Disclosure: none