Jeff Ubben (Trades, Portfolio)’s ValueAct Holding focuses on acquiring an exclusive list of companies that have been judged to be undervalued. With that in mind, Ubben’s activity in the third quarter may be surprising, given the names that can be found in his portfolio.
That activity showed a greater hesitation to invest in new stakes or sell old ones. In the third quarter, Ubben bought only one new stake and divested none. To be fair, he seldom does much of either, and he only made one new buy in the second quarter as well, but it was the first time he has had no divestitures in his quarterly portfolio since the first quarter of 2014.
Ubben’s activity also included only two adds, which did mark a departure from his recent pattern. It has been more than a year since he made only two adds to existing stakes. The number of reductions was unchanged from the second quarter, which was double the reductions Ubben made in the first quarter.
Ubben’s most significant third-quarter transaction was the reduction of his stake in Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE, Financial), a San Jose, California-based computer software company, by nearly 11%. Ubben sold 1,693,000 shares for an average price of $81.07 per share. The deal had a -0.72% impact on Ubben’s portfolio.
Adobe Systems reported fiscal fourth-quarters earnings per share of 62 cents Thursday, topping expectations by 2 cents.
Adobe Systems has a market cap of $45.55 billion and an enterprise value of $43.78 billion. It has a P/E of 93.9, a forward P/E of 33.9, a P/B of 6.7 and a P/S of 10.5. GuruFocus has given Adobe Systems a Financial Strength rating of 8/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10.
PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio), Frank Sands (Trades, Portfolio), Steve Mandel (Trades, Portfolio), Eric Mindich (Trades, Portfolio), Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio), Dodge & Cox, Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio) and Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Adobe Systems in their portfolios.
Adobe Systems sold for $91.31 per share Friday.
Ubben reduced his stake in Halliburton Co. (HAL, Financial), a Houston-based oilfield services and equipment company, by nearly 1%. Ubben sold 368,700 shares for an average price of $39.34 per share. The transaction had a -0.08% impact on Ubben’s portfolio.
Halliburton has a market cap of $28.62 billion and an enterprise value of $34.29 billion. It has a P/E of 111.1, a forward P/E of 31.7, a P/B of 1.8 and a P/S of 1.1. GuruFocus has given Halliburton a Financial Strength rating of 8/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10.
Ubben is Halliburton’s leading shareholder among the gurus with 37,149,560 shares in his portfolio. Glenn Greenberg (Trades, Portfolio), Bill Nygren (Trades, Portfolio), Tweedy Browne (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Tweedy Browne (Trades, Portfolio) Global Value, Richard Snow (Trades, Portfolio), First Pacific Advisors (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Romick (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), Wallace Weitz (Trades, Portfolio), Tom Gayner (Trades, Portfolio), Arnold Van Den Berg (Trades, Portfolio), Ronald Muhlenkamp (Trades, Portfolio), John Buckingham (Trades, Portfolio), Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio), David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio), Michael Price (Trades, Portfolio) and Dodge & Cox have shares of Halliburton in their portfolios.
On Friday Halliburton sold for $33.44 per share.
Ubben increased his stake in Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (FOX, Financial), a New York-based mass media company, by more than 6%. Ubben purchased 2,745,000 shares for an average price of $29.68 per share. The deal had a 0.43% impact on his portfolio.
Twenty-First Century Fox has a market cap of $54.8 billion and an enterprise value of $67.81 billion. It has a P/E of 7.3, a forward P/E of 15.1, a P/B of 3.6 and a P/S of 2.1. GuruFocus has given Twenty-First Century Fox a Financial Strength rating of 7/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10.
Ubben is Twenty-First Century Fox’s leading shareholder among the gurus with 47,326,334 shares in his portfolio. Donald Yacktman (Trades, Portfolio), Yacktman Focused Fund (Trades, Portfolio), Yacktman Fund (Trades, Portfolio), Diamond Hill Capital (Trades, Portfolio), Seth Klarman (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Singer (Trades, Portfolio), T Rowe Price Equity Income Fund (Trades, Portfolio), Wallace Weitz (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), MS Global Franchise Fund (Trades, Portfolio), Robert Olstein (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), First Pacific Advisors (Trades, Portfolio), Dodge & Cox and First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Twenty-First Century Fox in their portfolios.
Twenty-First Century Fox sold for $27.83 per share Friday.
Ubben increased his stake in American Express Co. (AXP, Financial), a New York-based banking and financial services company, by nearly 2%. Ubben acquired 200,000 shares for an average price of $76.94 per share. The transaction had a 0.09% impact on Ubben’s portfolio.
American Express has a market cap of $66.8 billion and an enterprise value of $98.68 billion. It has a P/E of 12.2, a forward P/E of 12.6, a P/B of 3.2 and a P/S of 2.1. GuruFocus has given American Express a Financial Strength rating of 4/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10.
Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio), James Barrow (Trades, Portfolio), Chris Davis (Trades, Portfolio), First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio), Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio), Dodge & Cox, Bill Nygren (Trades, Portfolio), T Rowe Price Equity Income Fund (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Ruane Cunniff (Trades, Portfolio), First Pacific Advisors (Trades, Portfolio), Mairs and Power (Trades, Portfolio), RS Investment Management (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Romick (Trades, Portfolio), PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio), Tom Gayner (Trades, Portfolio), Tweedy Browne (Trades, Portfolio), Tom Russo (Trades, Portfolio), John Rogers (Trades, Portfolio), Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio), Robert Olstein (Trades, Portfolio), Mark Hillman (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio), Diamond Hill Capital (Trades, Portfolio), Jeff Auxier (Trades, Portfolio), Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) and Steve Mandel (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of American Express in their portfolios.
On Friday American Express sold for $67.87 per share.
Ubben invested in a 330,000-share stake in Towers Watson & Co. (TW, Financial), a New York-based professional services company, for an average price of $123.83 per share. The deal had a 0.23% impact on Ubben’s portfolio.
Towers Watson has a market cap of $9.16 billion and an enterprise value of $8.77 bilion. It has a P/E of 21.5, a forward P/E of 19.9, a P/B of 3.1 and a P/S of 2.5. GuruFocus has given Towers Watson a Financial Strength rating of 6/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10.
Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), John Rogers (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) and Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Towers Watson in their portfolios.
Towers Watson sold for $131.95 per share Friday.
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