On Sept. 25, Pershing Square fund manager Bill Ackman (Trades, Portfolio) trimmed his Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ, Financial) position as the company’s share price has declined over the past six months.
Trade details
Ackman sold 568,780 shares of Mondelez for $40.50 per share. With this transaction, the guru pared 0.38% of his portfolio. Based on GuruFocus estimates, Ackman took a loss of approximately 2% on the stock.
Guru keeps selling shares as company loses momentum
Ackman has sold approximately 5 million Mondelez shares in each of the past two quarters as the company faces headwinds from its June malware incident and management changes.
Mondelez’s stock price has declined approximately 6.75% over the past six months as the company recovers from its malware incident, further increasing expected operating costs for the second half of the year. The company also announced a CEO change. According to an Aug. 2 press release, Dirk Van de Put will replace Irene Rosenfeld when she retires in November. Such headwinds can further weaken Mondelez’s operating margin, which has slightly declined since December 2015. Mondelez also reported operating loss over the past three years.
GuruFocus ranks Mondelez’s profitability a 5 as the company’s operating margin and Greenblatt return on capital outperform approximately 70% of global competitors despite languishing near a 10-year low. Mondelez’s revenue and earnings have declined 5.80% and 10.90% on average over the past three years.
Disclosure: I have no postions in MDLZ.
