Chuck Akre Sells Stake in Discovery Communications

Guru adds to holdings in American Tower and Verisk Analytics

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Sep 03, 2015
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A classic value approach guides Chuck Akre (Trades, Portfolio)’s investment decisions, and, by extension, his Akre Capital Private Asset Management. The firm’s recent track record illustrates how successful his approach has been, with returns of 11.53% in 2014, 18.5% in 2013 and 37.54% in 2012.

Akre’s most significant second-quarter transaction was his sale of his 4,622,412-share stake in Discovery Communications Inc. (DISCK, Financial), a Silver Spring, Md.-based mass media and entertainment company, for an average price of $30.93 per share. The deal had a -3.52% impact on Akre’s portfolio.

Discovery Communications has a market cap of $11.21 billion and an enterprise value of $18.17 billion. It has a P/E of 17.2, a Price/Book of 2.1 and a Price/Sales of 2.7. Wallace Weitz (Trades, Portfolio), Frank Sands (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Arnold Van Den Berg (Trades, Portfolio), Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio), Columbia Wanger (Trades, Portfolio), Robert Olstein (Trades, Portfolio), Tom Gayner (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Singer (Trades, Portfolio), Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) and Jeff Auxier (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Discovery Communications in their portfolios.

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Akre also sold his stake in MarkWest Energy Partners LP (MWE, Financial).

Akre reduced his stakes in two companies in the second quarter – LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (LPLA, Financial) and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, Financial).

Akre sold 146,596 shares of LPL Financial Holdings, a Boston-based financial services company, for an average price of $43.26 per share. The sale had a -0.15% impact on his portfolio.

LPL Financial Holdings has a market cap of $3.75 billion and an enterprise value of $4.92 billion. It has a P/E of 21.2, a Price/Book of 4.0 and a Price/Sales of 0.9. First Pacific Advisors (Trades, Portfolio) and Meridian Funds (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of LPL Financial Holdings in their portfolios.

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New buys and additions

Akre added to 16 existing stakes in his portfolio, the most noteworthy addition being the acquisition of 1,221,461 shares of American Tower Corp. (AMT, Financial), Boston-based owner and operator of wireless and broadcast communications sites in several countries, for an average price of $94.59 per share. The transaction had a 2.74% impact on Akre’s portfolio.

American Tower has a market cap of $38.54 billion and an enterprise value of $54.51 billion. It has a P/E of 54.6, a Price/Book of 5.3 and a Price/Sales of 8.6. Akre is American Tower’s leading shareholder among the gurus; Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), Chris Davis (Trades, Portfolio), Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) and Tom Gayner (Trades, Portfolio) also have shares of American Tower in their portfolios.

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Akre more than doubled his stake in Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK, Financial), a Jersey City, N.J.-based data analytics and risk assessment firm. Akre bought 993,730 shares for an average price of $73.45 per share. The deal had a 1.74% impact on Akre’s portfolio.

Verisk Analytics has a market cap of $12.39 billion and an enterprise value of $15.56 billion. It has a P/E of 26.8, a Price/Book of 10.0 and a Price/Sales of 6.5. David Rolfe (Trades, Portfolio), Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio), Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio), Columbia Wanger (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), George Soros (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Ruane Cunniff (Trades, Portfolio), Tom Gayner (Trades, Portfolio), Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio) and Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Verisk Analytics in their portfolios.

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Akre also made additions to his stakes in Roper Technologies Inc. (ROP, Financial), Ubiquiti Networks Inc. (UBNT, Financial), Enstar Group Ltd. (ESGR, Financial), O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY, Financial), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B), Colfax Corp. (CFX), Dollar Tree Stores Inc. (DLTR), MasterCard Inc. (MA), Moody's Corporation (MCO), Markel Corporation (MKL), CSX Corp. (CSX), Monro Muffler Brake Inc. (MNRO), Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NLY) and Primo Water Corp. (PRMW).

Akre bought two new stakes in the second quarter – LKQ Corp. (LKQ) and Alarm.com Holdings Inc. (ALRM).

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