Steven Romick (Trades, Portfolio) manages the Crescent Fund at First Pacific Advisers, a company with $33 billion in assets.
A value manager, Romick wrote in his fourth-quarter letter to shareholders that the market was 50% pricier than it was a few years ago, which slowed his buying.
âWhen we arenât actively accumulating positions, we are still putting in long hours educating ourselves as to the merits of various businesses,â Romick said. âInactivity can be challenging for both the portfolio manager and the client.
âAs famed investor Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio) recently explained, âPart of the reason we have a decent record is we pick things that are easy. Other people think theyâre so smart that they can take on things that are really difficult. That proves to be more dangerous. You have to be shrewd and you have to be patient.ââ
In the first quarter, Romick reported buying only one new stock: General Electric (GE, Financial). He also added to 10 other positions, the largest of which were: Citigroup Inc. (C, Financial), Microsoft Corp (MSFT, Financial), Owens-Illinois Inc. (OI, Financial) and CIT Group Inc. (CIT, Financial).
General Electric Co. (GE, Financial)
Romick purchased 8,215,200 shares of General Electric, a 1.99% portfolio holding. His average share price for the quarter was $25.
General Electric Co was incorporated in 1892. The company is a diversified infrastructure and financial services company. General Electric Co has a market cap of $276.38 billion; its shares were traded at around $27.46 with a P/E ratio of 18.00 and P/S ratio of 1.87. The dividend yield of General Electric Co stocks is 3.28%.
Romick increased his position in Citigroup by 4.3% to 8,645,300 shares. The stockâs average price was $51 in the quarter.
Citigroup Inc was incorporated in 1988 under the laws of the State of Delaware. Citigroup Inc has a market cap of $164.53 billion; its shares were traded at around $54.23 with a P/E ratio of 24.00 and P/S ratio of 2.10. The dividend yield of Citigroup Inc stocks is 0.10%.
Microsoft Corp (MSFT, Financial)
Romick increased his holding of Microsoft Corp 15.7% to 14,300,000 shares, a 5.7% portfolio weight. The stockâs price averaged $44.
Microsoft Corp was founded in 1975. It was incorporated in the State of Washington. Microsoft Corp has a market cap of $346.65 billion; its shares were traded at around $42.26 with a P/E ratio of 17.00 and P/S ratio of 3.77. The dividend yield of Microsoft Corp stocks is 2.79%. Microsoft Corp had an annual average earnings growth of 13.80% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Microsoft Corp the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.
CIT Group Inc. (CIT, Financial)
Romick increased his position in CIT Group by 22.8%, a 1.46% portfolio weighting. He holds 3,312,900 shares in total at the end of the quarter. The quarterâs average share price was $45.
CIT Group Inc was originally incorporated in Delaware on March 12, 2001 as T-Sub Inc. Cit Group Inc has a market cap of $8.43 billion; its shares were traded at around $47.91 with a P/E ratio of 8.00 and P/S ratio of 3.50. The dividend yield of Cit Group Inc stocks is 1.20%.
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