Value investor Michael Price could be featured in a quarterly version of the Dos Equis beer commercials. He doesn’t always invest in a lot of companies in a given quarter, but, when he does (and even when he doesn’t), it is likely to be in financial services. That is where nearly 28% of his investment activity is, more than double any other sector.
In the third quarter of 2014, Price traded in nearly three dozen companies. In the second quarter, he traded in nearly four dozen companies. It was roughly the same story in the first quarter. In each quarter of 2014 – and most of the quarters that preceded those of 2014 – many of his trades dealt with financial services stocks.
In the fourth quarter of 2014, Price was active in only two companies, but one of them – Franklin Financial Corp (FRNK, Financial) – was in that sector. The other company in which Price invested was S&W Seed Company (SANW, Financial).
He added 98,702 shares to his stake in Franklin Financial, a Virginia-based holding company for Franklin Federal Savings Bank. The acquisition, at an average price of $20.26 per share, had a 0.01% impact on Price’s portfolio – a modest impact, to be sure, but enough to move Franklin Financial from 14th to 13th in Price’s portfolio.
Price added S&W Seed Company, a California-based alfalfa seed producer, to his holdings in the fourth quarter.
Price bought 1,294,000 shares of S&W for an average price of $4.14 per share. The transaction had a 0.62% impact on his portfolio.
Since 2001, Price has been running his own hedge fund, New York-based MFP Investors.
