John Paulson, who runs the giant Paulson & Co. Inc. hedge
fund, has significantly reduced his stakes in key financial
holdings as of the end of the third quarter, according to
regulatory filings, likely as a reaction to increased regulatory
scrutiny over the industry.
Paulson's reduced his stake in Bank of America (
BAC
) from 168-million shares to 138-million, and cut his exposure to
Citigroup (
C
) from 507-million to 424-milion.
Paulson also lowered his stake in Wells Fargo (
WFC
) from 17.5-million shares to 15.5-million, and also reduced his
stake in JPMorgan Chase (
JPM
) from 7-million shares to 5-million.
Paulson entirely eliminated his 1.1 million shares in Goldman Sachs
(
GS
).
Like George Soros, Paulson has maintained a big position in gold
as a hedge against weakening US dollar.
Paulson retained his 31.5-million shares of the SPDR Gold Trust (
ETF
) at the end of the third quarter (valued at more than
$4-billion).
On the whole, as of Sept. 30, 2010, Paulson held 80 stocks
valued at $22.9-billion. The top sectors as that date comprised
financials (34.2 percent); basic materials (14.8) and health care
(8.2).
The five largest individual holdings were Spider Gold Shares (
GLD
), 17.6 percent of the total portfolio; AngloGold Ashanti (
AU
), 8.28 percent; Bank of America, 7.88 percent; Citigroup, 7/24
percent; and Hartford Financial Services Group (
HIG
), 4.41 percent.
Brand new additions to the portfolio included Anadarko Petroleum
Corp. (
APC
); MacAfee Inc. (
MFE
); Genzyme Corp. (
GENZ
); Liberty Media Corp. Interactive Common S (
LINTA
); Symantec Corp. (
SYMC
); Potash Corp. Of Saskatchewan Inc. (
POT
); BMC Software Inc. (
BMC
); Quad/graphics Inc. (
QUAD
); Teradata Corp (
TDC
); Netapp Inc. (
NTAP
); International Tower Hill Mines Ltd (
THM
); Quest Software Inc. (
QSFT
): Alberto-Culver Co (
ACV
); Brocade Communications Systems (
BRCD
); Beazer Homes USA Inc (
BZMD
)
Aside from Goldman Sachs, Paulson also sold out Exxon-Mobil (
XOM
); Apache (
APA
); Devon Energy (
DVN
); DIRECTV Group (
DTV
); Macerich Co. (
MAC
); Sprint Nextel (
S
): Casey's General Store (
CASY
); Hyatt Hotels (
H
).
Paulson's stock picks became widely followed on Wall Street
after his bet against subprime mortgages just prior to the housing
market collapse.