Oxstones Investment Club™Lauren Tara LaCapra
NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Paulson & Co. got bearish on big banking names during the third quarter, but plunged money into a couple of smaller regional stocks and an insurer, according to the latest 13f filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Paulson sold 82.7 million shares of Citigroup (C), 30 million shares of Bank of America (BAC), two million shares of both JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Capital One (COF) and one million shares of SunTust (STI). The fund exited its position in Goldman Sachs (GS), selling the 1.1 million shares it held at the end of the second quarter.
On the flip side, the giant hedge fund acquired 122,882 shares of Memphis-based regional bank First Horizon (FHN) and 333,340 shares of San Juan, Puerto Rico-based Popular (BPOP). It also acquired 24.5 million shares of the insurer CNO Financial Group (CNO).
All told, Paulson sold $1.1 billion worth of common stock in those six large banks while increasing holdings of the other three by $152.2 million.
The Paulson fund is run by legendary hedge fund manager John Paulson, who made billions betting against subprime housing in 2008. He and other high-profile fund managers also made a good deal of profit buying financial stocks when they were severely depressed last year.
Other notable changes to the Paulson portfolio during the third quarter include its build-up of Airgas (ARG) holdings by half a million shares to 1.5 million in total and the sale of four million Family Dollar (FDO) shares to two million total as of Sept. 30.
The fund also newly entered several positions. Paulson acquired 13.4 million shares of Anadarko (APC), 1.9 million shares of Genzyme (GENZ), half a million shares of Potash (POT).
The stocks dropped by Paulson include Devon Energy Group (DVN), Casey’s General Stores (CASY) and Smith International (SII).
Including preferred stock and other securities, the fund’s overall holdings declined by nearly $30 million during the three months ended Sept. 30, both by reductions in value and position liquidations.
— Written by Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York.
Tags: Paulson, stocks