"Tracking Yacktman Asset Management Portfolio – Q3 2014 Update"
"Yacktman's US long equity portfolio decreased marginally from $24.59B to $23.95B this quarter.Yacktman Asset Management substantially increased Oracle Corporation while reducing Clorox Company, Comcast Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, and Wells Fargo.Yacktman’s largest five positions are at around 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 11/04/2014. Please visit our  to get an idea of his investment philosophy and our  highlighting the fund’s moves during Q2 2014.This quarter, Yacktman’s US long portfolio decreased marginally from $24.59B to $23.95B. The number of holdings increased from 47 to 51. The largest holding is PepsiCo Inc. at 11.35% of the US long portfolio. Largest five individual stock positions are PepsiCo Inc., Procter & Gamble, Twenty First Century Fox, Coca-Cola Company, and Cisco Systems and they together account for almost 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. 28 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:None.Stake Disposals:None.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 last quarter. This quarter saw a ~12% stake increase at prices between $38 and $42. The stock currently trades at $39.13 and it accounts for almost 5% of the US long portfolio. The activity indicates a bullish bias.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. Last quarter saw a 6% increase at prices between $78.50 and $83 and this quarter saw an additional 2.66% increase at prices between $77 and $85. The stock currently trades at $88.64.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 saw a 6% trimming in FOXA at prices between $30.73 and $35.63. This quarter saw a 2.48% increase. Yacktman’s average cost-basis on this position is very low and it accounts for just over 9% of the US long portfolio.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 $77.26. This quarter saw a minor stake increase and the position now accounts for 1% of the US long portfolio.Patterson Companies (PDCO) & Viacom Inc. (VIAB): PDCO is a very small 0.53% position while VIAB is a medium-sized 3% stake. They were both increased 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.Stake Decreases:Avon Products (AVP): AVP is a 1.42% 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 last quarter saw an 8% increase at prices between $13.30 and $15.30. This quarter saw marginal selling. The stock currently trades below his purchase ranges at $10.20. For investors attempting to follow Yacktman, AVP is a very good option to consider.C.R. Bard Inc. (BCR): BCR is a 3.84% of the US long portfolio position that was reduced by ~12% in Q1 2014 at prices between $125 and $148. This quarter saw a ~4% reduction at prices between $142 and $153. 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.Becton Dickinson (BDX): BDX is 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 but has since been reduced. In Q1 2014, the position was reduced by around one-fourth at prices between $105 and $117. This quarter saw a marginal decrease. The stock currently trades at around $126.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. The stock currently trades at $70.12. The last four quarters saw minor activity with the net effect of a small stake increase. The position currently stands at 1.78% of the US long portfolio.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. This quarter saw a ~17% stake reduction at prices between $86 and $97. The stock currently trades at around $101. The significant selling indicates a bearish bias.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 $41.82 and the position stands at 7.64% of the US long portfolio. The even larger 11.35% 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 $96.73. Both positions saw selling this quarter: KO was reduced by 3.32% and PEP by 7.33%.Comcast Corporation (CMCSA): CMCSA is a 1.39% 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. This quarter saw a ~27% stake reduction at prices between $53 and $57. The stock currently trades at $54.63. Yacktman is harvesting long-term gains from this position.Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): JNJ is a medium-sized 3.85% 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 $109. The position was reduced by 4.36% this quarter at prices between $100 and $109.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 5.46% of the US long portfolio stake was established in 2011 when ~20M shares were purchased at prices between $24 and $28.50. Q1 2014 saw the stake increased by 3.6% at prices between $35 and $41. This quarter saw an about-turn as the position was reduced by 14.29% at prices between $41.50 and $45.50. The stock currently trades at $47.57. Yacktman is starting to harvest long-term gains from this position.Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (SIAL): The 1% SIAL stake was first purchased in Q1 2013 when around 1.25M shares were purchased and 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. This quarter saw a ~25% reduction at prices between $100 and $136. The stock currently trades at $135.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 3.24% 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. This quarter saw some selling: 5.72% reduction. The stock currently trades at $87.65.Wellpoint Inc. (WLP): WLP is a 1.47% of the US long portfolio position purchased in 2012 at prices between $55 and $74. Since then, the position saw minor trimming every quarter. This quarter saw a ~7% reduction at prices between $107 and $124. The stock currently trades at around $127. Yacktman has a large exposure to the healthcare industry, a group that also includes Johnson & Johnson, C.R. Bard, Sigma-Aldrich, and Wellpoint. This quarter saw stake reductions in all of them and that indicates a shift in bias.Wells Fargo (WFC): WFC is a small 0.61% 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. The last two quarters saw significant selling as the stake was reduced to 2.8M shares at prices between $48 and $54. The stock currently trades at $53.27. The activity indicates a bearish bias.Exxon Mobil (XOM), ConocoPhillips (COP), The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BK), Cisco Systems (CSCO), eBay Inc. (EBAY), 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 (1.25%), US Bancorp (2.21%), and Wells Fargo (0.61%).The spreadsheet below highlights changes to Yacktman’s US stock holdings in Q3 2014:"