"Tracking Yacktman Asset Management Portfolio – Q4 2014 Update"
"Yacktman's US long equity portfolio increased marginally from $23.95B to $24.12B this quarter.Yacktman Asset Management substantially increased Oracle Corporation and Avon Products while reducing C.R. Bard, Clorox Company, Microsoft Corporation, Patterson Companies, Sigma-Aldrich, and Stryker Corporation.Yacktman’s largest five positions are at over 45% of the US long portfolio.This article is part of a series that provides an ongoing analysis of the changes made to Donald Yacktman’s US stock portfolio on a quarterly basis. It is based on Yacktman Asset Management’s regulatory  filed on 02/02/2015. Please visit our  to get an idea of his investment philosophy and our  highlighting the fund’s moves during Q3 2014.This quarter, Yacktman’s US long portfolio increased marginally from $23.95B to $24.12B. The number of holdings remained steady at 51. The largest holding is Procter & Gamble at 10.71% of the US long portfolio. Largest five individual stock positions are Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo Inc., Twenty First Century Fox, Coca-Cola Company, and Oracle Corporation and they together account for over 45% of the US long portfolio. The firm has over $30B in Assets Under Management (AUM) and currently has over 20% in cash - a far cry compared to zero cash immediately following the financial crisis. The portfolio is concentrated with recent 13F reports showing around 50 individual positions. 29 of those stakes are significantly large (over ~0.5% of the US long portfolio each) and they are the focus of this article.New Stakes:Unilever N V (UN): UN is a small 0.57% of the US long portfolio stake established this quarter at prices between $37.14 and $41.02. The stock currently trades at $43.19.Stake Disposals:Becton Dickinson (BDX): BDX was a small 0.62% of the US long portfolio position first purchased in 2010 at prices between $67 and $85. The stake was doubled in 2011 at prices between $71 and $89. In Q1 2014, the position was reduced by around one-fourth at prices between $105 and $117 and this quarter the remaining position was eliminated at prices between $114 and $142. The stock currently trades at around $140.Stake Increases:Oracle Corporation (ORCL): The ORCL position was first purchased in Q2 2013 when over 20M shares were purchased at prices between $30 and $35. The position was at over 27M shares as of Q2 2014. Last quarter saw a ~12% stake increase at prices between $38 and $42 and that was followed with a ~23% increase this quarter at prices between $37.56 and $46.23. The stock currently trades at $42.68 and the stake is now a top-five position in the portfolio. The activity indicates a clear bullish bias.Avon Products (AVP): AVP is a 1.23% of the US long portfolio position. The original stake was a 15M share position established in 2011 at prices between $16 and $29. The stake was increased to 18.9M shares by the end of 2012 at prices between $14 and $23. Q1 2014 saw further buying as the position size was increased by about one-third at prices between $14.28 and $17.22 and Q2 2014 saw an 8% increase at prices between $13.30 and $15.30. This quarter saw another ~17% increase at prices between $9.11 and $12.60 and the stake is at 31.5M shares. The stock currently trades below his purchase ranges at $8.12. For investors attempting to follow Yacktman, AVP is a very good option to consider.Wal-Mart Stores (WMT): WMT is a long-term position that was first purchased in 2004. The bulk of the current position was purchased in 2011 when around 2M shares were acquired at prices between $50 and $60. The stock currently trades at $85.71. Last two quarters have seen minor increases and the position now accounts for 1.17% of the US long portfolio.Exxon Mobil (XOM), ConocoPhillips (COP), & Viacom Inc. (VIAB): These are significant positions (more than ~0.5% of the US long portfolio) that were increased marginally (less than ~10% change in position size) this quarter. As the activities were very minor, they do not indicate a clear change in bias.Stake Decreases:C.R. Bard Inc. (BCR): BCR is a 3.08% of the US long portfolio position that was reduced by ~12% in Q1 2014 at prices between $125 and $148. Last quarter saw a ~4% reduction at prices between $142 and $153 and this quarter saw a further one-third reduction at prices between $142 and $173. The stock currently trades at $170. The original position consisted of ~2.14M shares purchased in 2010 at prices between $76 and $96. The stake was built up to just over 7.4M shares by 2012 and since then has seen some selling. The activity indicates a clear bearish bias.Clorox Company (CLX): CLX is a very long-term position that has been in the portfolio since Yacktman’s first 13F filing in Q1 1999. The bulk of the current position was purchased in 2012 when almost 4M shares were acquired at prices between $67 and $76. Last quarter saw a ~17% stake reduction at prices between $86 and $97 and that was followed with another roughly one-third reduction this quarter at prices between $95 and $106. The stock currently trades at $108. The significant selling in a very long-term position indicates a bearish bias.Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): MSFT has been in the portfolio since 2003 and it became a significantly large position in 2006 when around 2.2M shares were purchased at prices between $22 and $29.50. The bulk of the current 4.24% of the US long portfolio stake was established in 2011 when ~20M shares were purchased at prices between $24 and $28.50. Last quarter saw a 14.29% reduction at prices between $41.50 and $45.50 and that was followed with a ~22% reduction this quarter at prices between $42.74 and $49.61. The stock currently trades at $41.28. Yacktman is harvesting long-term gains from this position.Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (SIAL): The 0.89% SIAL stake was first purchased in Q1 2013 when around 1.25M shares were purchased. The position was doubled the following quarter. The stake establishment happened at prices between $75 and $85. Since then, the position remained relatively steady although minor adjustments were made every quarter. Last quarter saw a ~25% reduction at prices between $100 and $136 and this quarter saw another ~13% reduction at prices between $134 and $138. The stock currently trades at $138.Note: The stock had a ~30% price-spike on September 22, 2014 when it was announced that Merck Inc. (MRK) had agreed to acquire SIAL for $140 per share in cash.Stryker Corporation (SYK): SYK is a 2.87% of the US long portfolio position first purchased in 2009. The majority of the current stake was established in 2012 at prices between $50 and $57. The position had since been kept relatively steady. Last quarter saw a 5.72% reduction and that was followed with a ~24% reduction this quarter at prices between $79.20 and $96.61. The stock currently trades at $91.76.Anthem Inc. (ANTM) previously Wellpoint Inc.: ANTM is a 1.63% of the US long portfolio position purchased in 2012 at prices between $55 and $74. Since then, the position has seen minor trimming every quarter. The stock currently trades at around $136. Yacktman has a large exposure to the healthcare industry, a group that also includes Johnson & Johnson, C.R. Bard, Sigma-Aldrich, and Stryker Corporation. Last two quarters have seen stake reductions in all of them and that indicates a shift in bias.C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. (CHRW): CHRW was an insignificantly small position (~700K shares) purchased in 2012. During Q1 & Q2 2013, ~5.4M additional shares were purchased at prices between $54 and $67 and since then the stake had been kept relatively steady. This quarter saw a ~8% reduction at prices between $63.45 and $77.16. The stock currently trades at $73.44 and the position stands at 1.85% of the US long portfolio.Coca-Cola Company (KO) & PepsiCo Inc. (PEP): KO & PEP are very long-term positions that have been in the portfolio for over fifteen years. During Yacktman’s first 13F filing in Q1 1999, the positions consisted of just a few thousand shares each. The KO stake was built up to almost 2.4M shares by Q4 2006. The position size dropped below 1.5M shares in Q4 2008 but since then the stake was consistently increased - the position doubled in both 2009 & 2010 and increased by ~150% each in 2012 & 2013. The huge stake build-up happened at prices between $21 & $30 and $33.50 & $43 in the 2009-10 & 2012-13 periods respectively. The stock currently trades at $41.59 and the position stands at 7.23% of the US long portfolio. The even larger 10.58% PEP stake was similarly built-up over multiple years with the bulk of the buying happening in the 2011-13 timeframe: over 22M shares were purchased during that time at prices between $60 and $86. The stock currently trades at $95.33. Both positions saw minor selling in the last two quarters.Comcast Corporation (CMCSA): CMCSA is a 1.48% of the US long portfolio position first purchased in 2008. The bulk of the current position was purchased in 2009 in the $15 price-range. Last quarter saw a ~27% stake reduction at prices between $53 and $57 and this quarter saw very minor additional selling. The stock currently trades at $53.81. Yacktman is harvesting long-term gains from this position.Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): JNJ is a medium-sized 3.73% of the US long portfolio position that has been in the portfolio since their first 13F filing in Q1 1999. The bulk of the current position was purchased in 2011 at around the low $60s price-range. The stock currently trades at around $101. The position was reduced by 4.36% last quarter at prices between $100 and $109 and this quarter saw a marginal reduction.Procter & Gamble (PG): PG is a very long-term position that has been in the portfolio since Yacktman’s first 13F filing in 1999. The position size remained insignificantly small until 2007 when about 520K shares were purchased at prices between $61 and $74. The position was cut in half in 2008 but the following four-years saw a 100-fold stake increase at prices between $47 and $70. Q2 2014 saw a 6% increase at prices between $78.50 and $83 and last quarter saw an additional 2.66% increase at prices between $77 and $85. This quarter saw an about turn: ~2% reduction at prices between $82.24 and $93.46. The stock currently trades at $85.12.Twenty First Century Fox (FOX) (FOXA): Yacktman had a very small position in News Corporation (NWS) in 2008. The 2009 to 2012 timeframe saw a huge stake build up as his share count increased 32-times (2.5M shares to over 80M shares). Since the spinoff and renaming of News Corporation, both positions (News Corp and Twenty First Century Fox) had seen selling - the NWS stake was eliminated in Q4 2013 and the FOXA stake was reduced by around 28%. Q1 2014 also saw a 6% trimming in FOXA at prices between $30.73 and $35.63. Last two quarters have seen only very minor adjustments. Yacktman’s average cost-basis on this position is very low and it accounts for 10.10% of the US long portfolio.Wells Fargo (WFC): WFC is a small 0.63% of the US long portfolio position first purchased in Q1 2013. The bulk of the current position was purchased in Q2 2013 when ~4.8M shares were acquired at prices between $36.50 and $44.50. The position was kept relatively steady until Q1 2014. Q2 & Q3 2014 saw significant selling as the stake was reduced to 2.8M shares at prices between $48 and $54. The stock currently trades at $52.81. This quarter saw a marginal reduction.The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BK), Cisco Systems (CSCO), eBay Inc. (EBAY), Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Patterson Companies (PDCO), Sysco Corporation (SYY), & US Bancorp (USB): These are significant positions (more than ~0.5% of the US long portfolio) that were decreased marginally (less than ~2% change in position size) this quarter. As the activities were very minor, they do not indicate a clear change in bias.Kept Steady:State Street Corporation (STT): STT is a minute 0.68% of the US long portfolio position that was left untouched this quarter.Yacktman is known to shy away from investing in banks but has held significant stakes in three banks since the financial crisis. This quarter saw selling in all of them: The Bank of New York Mellon (1.230%), US Bancorp (2.36%), and Wells Fargo (0.63%).The spreadsheet below highlights changes to Yacktman’s US stock holdings in Q4 2014:"