Nearly 40 years ago, Irving Kahn and his brothers, Alan and Thomas, founded Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio), a firm that invests mostly in undervalued and often unpopular securities. Irving Kahn died earlier this year at the age of 109, but the firm survives him, heeding the investment philosophies of Benjamin Graham.
Most of Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio)’ activity in the second quarter involved selling all or portions of stakes in the firm’s portfolio.
The firm reduced 24 of its existing stakes, including some of its most valuable stakes. Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio) reduced its most valuable stake, Old Republic International Corporation (ORI, Financial), a Chicago-based property insurance and title and deed company, by more than 40%, selling 758,725 shares for an average price of $15.41 per share. The sale had a -1.92% impact on Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio)’ portfolio.
Old Republic has a market cap of $4.37 billion and an enterprise value of $4.55 billion. It has a P/E of 13.6, a Price/Book of 1.3 and a Price/Sales of 0.9. HOTCHKIS & WILEY, Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio), Charles Brandes (Trades, Portfolio), Prem Watsa (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) and Michael Price (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Old Republic in their portfolios.
Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio) also sold 271,046 shares of Navient Corp (NAVI, Financial), a financial services company based in Delaware, for an average price of $19.57 per share. The transaction had a -0.93% impact on the firm’s portfolio.
Navient has a market cap of $5.86 billion and an enterprise value of $137.83 billion. It has a P/E of 5.8, a Price/Book of 1.6 and a Price/Sales of 2.0. James Barrow (Trades, Portfolio), Leon Cooperman (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio), Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) and Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Navient in their portfolios.
Some of the other stakes from which Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio) sold portions were New York Community Bancorp Inc (NYCB, Financial), Pfizer Inc (PFE, Financial), New York Times Co (NYT, Financial) and Merck & Co Inc (MRK, Financial).
Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio) sold out two stakes in the second quarter – Questar Corp (STR, Financial) and Astec Industries Inc (ASTE, Financial).
Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio) sold its 15,950-share stake in Questar, a Salt Lake City-based energy company that focuses on natural gas, for an average price of $22.76 per share. The sale had a -0.06% impact on the firm’s portfolio.
Questar has a market cap of $3.89 billion and an enterprise value of $5.1 billion. It has a P/E of 17.3, a Price/Book of 3.0 and a Price/Sales of 3.4. RS Investment Management (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), John Keeley (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio) and Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Questar in their portfolios.
On Monday, Questar announced its 283rd consecutive dividend. Shareholders of record on August 21 will receive $0.21 per share on September 14.
Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio) sold its 5,000-share stake in Astec, which designs, makes and sells farm and construction equipment, for an average price of $42.23 per share. The deal had a -0.04% impact on Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio)’ portfolio.
Astec has a market cap of $882.07 million and an enterprise value of $875.84 million. It has a P/E of 22.1, a Price/Book of 1.5 and a Price/Sales of 0.9. Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) and Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Astec in their portfolios.
Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio) didn’t make any new buys in the second quarter, but the firm did add to eight existing stakes.
The firm increased its stake in MBIA Inc (MBI, Financial), a New York-based financial services company, by more than 75%. Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio) bought 1,499,964 shares for an average price of $9.03 per share. The transaction had a 1.52% impact on Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio)’ portfolio.
MBIA has a market cap of $1.06 billion and an enterprise value of $7.67 billion. It has a P/E of 3.4, a Price/Book of 0.3 and a Price/Sales of 1.2. Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio), George Soros (Trades, Portfolio), Francis Chou (Trades, Portfolio), Prem Watsa (Trades, Portfolio) and Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of MBIA in their portfolios.
Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio) also increased its stake in BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY, Financial), a Canadian telecommunication and wireless equipment company, by nearly 40%. Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio) acquired 943,149 shares for an average price of $9.69 per share. The deal had a 1.3% impact on the firm’s portfolio.
BlackBerry has a market cap of $4.05 billion and an enterprise value of $2.75 billion. It has a Price/Book of 1.3 and a Price/Sales of 1.3. PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio), Prem Watsa (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Francis Chou (Trades, Portfolio), Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) and Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of BlackBerry in their portfolios.
The other stakes that Kahn Brothers (Trades, Portfolio) increased were Patterson-UTI Energy Inc (PTEN, Financial), BP PLC (BP), Trinity Place Holdings Inc (TPHS), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY), Landmark Bancorp Inc (LARK) and Nam Tai Property Inc (NTP).
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