John Burbank Sells Banking Stakes in First Quarter

Author's Avatar
Jun 10, 2015
Article's Main Image

John Burbank (Trades, Portfolio) became interested in emerging markets while teaching English in China after completing his undergraduate studies at Duke University. His experience abroad was a primary reason for founding global investment firm Passport Capital LLC in 2000; much of his first-quarter 2015 activity, however, involved not buying stocks (although he did his share of that) but selling them, and many of his sales were holdings in financial institutions.

Burbank sold more than 50 stakes in the first quarter. The sale with the greatest impact on his portfolio was the sale of his 1,720,982-share stake in iShares Barclays 20+ Yr Treas. Bond (ETF) [TLT]. Burbank received an average price of $129.99 per share. The transaction had a -5.5% impact on Burbank’s portfolio.

Burbank also sold his 2,791,189-share stake in Bank of America Corporation (BAC, Financial), a banking and financial services company based in North Carolina, for an average price of $16.06 per share. The deal had a -1.3% impact on Burbank’s portfolio.

Bank of America has a market cap of $184.52 billion and an enterprise value of $307.96 billion. It has a P/E of 25.8, a Price/Book of 0.8 and a Price/Sales of 2.3. Dodge & Cox, James Barrow (Trades, Portfolio), Bruce Berkowitz (Trades, Portfolio), Fairholme Fund (Trades, Portfolio), HOTCHKIS & WILEY, Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio), Bill Nygren (Trades, Portfolio), Richard Pzena (Trades, Portfolio), Brian Rogers (Trades, Portfolio), First Pacific Advisors (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Romick (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Charles Brandes (Trades, Portfolio), Donald Yacktman (Trades, Portfolio), Yacktman Fund (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), NWQ Managers (Trades, Portfolio), Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio), Caxton Associates (Trades, Portfolio), Ken Heebner (Trades, Portfolio), Richard Snow (Trades, Portfolio), Chris Davis (Trades, Portfolio), David Tepper (Trades, Portfolio), Ruane Cunniff (Trades, Portfolio), Mark Hillman (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), Jeff Auxier (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio), Bill Frels (Trades, Portfolio), Tom Russo (Trades, Portfolio), Michael Price (Trades, Portfolio), Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio), T Boone Pickens (Trades, Portfolio), Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio), Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio), Glenn Greenberg (Trades, Portfolio) and Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Bank of America in their portfolios. Mohnish Pabrai (Trades, Portfolio) and Arnold Schneider (Trades, Portfolio) sold their stakes in the first quarter.

03May20171102241493827344.png

Burbank sold his 714,194-share stake in Citigroup Inc (C, Financial), a Manhattan-based banking and financial services company, for an average price of $50.92 per share. The transaction had a -0.99% impact on Burbank’s portfolio.

Citigroup has a market cap of $173.28 billion and an enterprise value of $274.98 billion. It has a P/E of 22.5, a Price/Book of 0.8 and a Price/Sales of 2.2. James Barrow (Trades, Portfolio), HOTCHKIS & WILEY, Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio), Richard Pzena (Trades, Portfolio), First Pacific Advisors (Trades, Portfolio), Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Romick (Trades, Portfolio), Bill Nygren (Trades, Portfolio), Diamond Hill Capital (Trades, Portfolio), Larry Robbins (Trades, Portfolio), Leon Cooperman (Trades, Portfolio), Charles Brandes (Trades, Portfolio), NWQ Managers (Trades, Portfolio), Ken Heebner (Trades, Portfolio), Sarah Ketterer (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio), RS Investment Management (Trades, Portfolio), Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio), Arnold Schneider (Trades, Portfolio), Signature Select Canadian Fund (Trades, Portfolio), Caxton Associates (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Francis Chou (Trades, Portfolio), Julian Robertson (Trades, Portfolio), Chris Davis (Trades, Portfolio), Manning & Napier Advisors, Inc, Jeff Auxier (Trades, Portfolio), Mohnish Pabrai (Trades, Portfolio), David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), Prem Watsa (Trades, Portfolio), John Keeley (Trades, Portfolio), Dodge & Cox and Ruane Cunniff (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Citigroup in their portfolios. Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio), Ronald Muhlenkamp (Trades, Portfolio), Daniel Loeb (Trades, Portfolio), Bruce Berkowitz (Trades, Portfolio), George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) and Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) sold their stakes in the first quarter.

03May20171102241493827344.png

Burbank sold his 707,365-share stake in Wells Fargo & Co (WFC, Financial), a San Francisco-based banking and financial services holding company, for an average price of $54.04 per share. That transaction also had a -0.99% impact on Burbank’s portfolio.

Wells Fargo has a market cap of $294.28 billion and an enterprise value of $491.51 billion. It has a P/E of 14.1, a Price/Book of 1.7 and a Price/Sales of 3.6. Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio), Dodge & Cox, James Barrow (Trades, Portfolio), Chris Davis (Trades, Portfolio), Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio), Tom Russo (Trades, Portfolio), PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio), Brian Rogers (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Lou Simpson (Trades, Portfolio), Bill Nygren (Trades, Portfolio), Tweedy Browne (Trades, Portfolio), HOTCHKIS & WILEY, Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Bill Frels (Trades, Portfolio), David Abrams (Trades, Portfolio), Donald Yacktman (Trades, Portfolio), Charles Brandes (Trades, Portfolio), Richard Pzena (Trades, Portfolio), NWQ Managers (Trades, Portfolio), Yacktman Fund (Trades, Portfolio), Wallace Weitz (Trades, Portfolio), Sarah Ketterer (Trades, Portfolio), Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio), Diamond Hill Capital (Trades, Portfolio), Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio), RS Investment Management (Trades, Portfolio), Arnold Van Den Berg (Trades, Portfolio), Ruane Cunniff (Trades, Portfolio), John Hussman (Trades, Portfolio), Scott Black (Trades, Portfolio), Bruce Berkowitz (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), John Buckingham (Trades, Portfolio), Prem Watsa (Trades, Portfolio), Manning & Napier Advisors, Inc, David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio), Third Avenue Management (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), T Boone Pickens (Trades, Portfolio), Jeff Auxier (Trades, Portfolio) and First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Wells Fargo in their portfolios. Richard Snow (Trades, Portfolio), Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio), Stanley Druckenmiller (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio) and Caxton Associates (Trades, Portfolio) sold their stakes in the first quarter.

03May20171102251493827345.png

Wells Fargo is on a list of LGBT-friendly companies that evangelist Franklin Graham, son of Rev. Billy Graham, announced this week that he plans to boycott because they contribute to a “tide of moral decay.” He encouraged like-minded Christians to do the same.

Other stakes that Burbank sold in the first quarter included Discover Financial Services (DFS, Financial), Baidu Inc (BIDU, Financial), ITT Corp (ITT, Financial), Wynn Resorts Ltd (WYNN, Financial), Netflix Inc (NFLX, Financial), Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA, Financial) and Clorox Co (CLX, Financial).

To view the portfolios of more gurus, visit the List of Gurus page. Not a premium member of GuruFocus? Try it free for 7 days.