Glenn Greenberg (Trades, Portfolio), leader of Brave Warrior Advisors, disclosed this week that his firm's top four trades during the third quarter included a new position in Aon PLC (AON, Financial), an increased bet on Dollar Tree Inc. (DLTR, Financial) and position reductions in Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL, Financial)(GOOG, Financial) and Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)'s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial).
Greenberg co-founded Chieftain Capital in 1984, generating strong returns between 1984 and 2004 using a disciplined investing strategy involving "defense against ignorance." The guru believes that the more companies an investor owns, the less the investor will know about each company and could thus lead to mistakes due to fear and greed.
Greenberg and his partner, John Shapiro, split Chieftain Capital into two separate firms in 2010, with Greenberg renaming his firm Brave Warrior Advisors. As of Sept. 30, Brave Warrior's $2.24 billion equity portfolio contains 23 stocks with four new holdings and a turnover ratio of 22%. The top three sectors represented are financial services, health care and communication services with weights of 64.25%, 20.50% and 8.28%.
Aon
Brave Warrior purchased 1,323,535 shares of Aon, giving the stake 12.19% equity portfolio weight. Shares averaged $199.63 during the third quarter.
The U.K.-based company provides insurance and reinsurance brokerage and human resource solutions. GuruFocus ranks Aon's profitability 7 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a high Piotroski F-score of 7 and an operating margin that is outperforming 84% of global competitors.
Other gurus with holdings in Aon include Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio)'s Viking Global and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio)' Renaissance Technologies.
Dollar Tree
Brave Warrior purchased 991,026 shares of Dollar Tree, giving the shares 4.04% weight in the equity portfolio. Shares averaged $94.04 during the third quarter.
GuruFocus ranks the Chesapeake, Virginia-based discount retailer's profitability 8 out of 10 on the back of a high Piotroski F-score of 8 and an operating margin that outperforms over 85% of global competitors.
Firm reduces Alphabet and Berkshire Hathaway holdings
Brave Warrior sold 86,079 Class A shares of Alphabet, trimming the position 52.23% and the equity portfolio 6.07%. Shares averaged $1,523.87 during the third quarter.
The firm also sold 611,554 Class B shares of Berkshire, trimming the holding 29.63% and the equity portfolio 5.43%. Shares averaged $204.37 during the third quarter.
On Wednesday, U.S. stock markets slipped into the close on the heels of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announcing that the city's public schools returned to remote learning only to curb the spread of the coronavirus in New York, souring investor sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 29,438.42, down 344.93 points from Tuesday's close of 29,783.35 and approximately 40 points below last Friday's close of 29,479.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 11,801.60, down approximately 97 points or 0.82% from the previous close of 11,899.34.
Disclosure: No positions.
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