In the third quarter – for the first time in 2014 – guru Edward Lampert (Trades, Portfolio)’s quarterly activity was limited to selling holdings, not acquiring them.
That really isn’t an unusual thing for Lampert – on a quarterly basis. In previous years, Lampert, the founder of RBS Partners, has often gone through quarters without making any major stock purchases. Most of the time, though, he has had a purchase of some kind in his quarterly portfolio – but not this time.
His investment approach has led to returns averaging 29% since RBS Partners was founded in 1988.
The greatest impact on Lampert’s portfolio was registered by the sale of 3,080,461 shares of AutoNation Inc (AN, Financial), the nation’s largest retailer of new and used vehicles headquartered in Florida, at the end of September. Lampert sold the shares for an average price of $54.77. That transaction had a -8.11% impact on his portfolio.
Earlier in the quarter, Lampert sold smaller portions of his stake in AutoNation, ultimately leaving him with 8,735,116 shares in the company.
Lampert also sold 831,759 shares of Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores Inc (SHOS, Financial), a department store chain based in Chicago, for an average price of $18.83 per share. That transaction had a -0.79% impact on his portfolio.
Lampert is the chairman of Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD, Financial).
Lampert also divested himself of his stake in Gap Inc (GPS, Financial), a San Francisco-based clothing retailer, selling 2,788,123 shares for an average price of $42.49 per share. That transaction had an impact of -5.1% on his portfolio.
To view the portfolios of more gurus, visit the List of Gurus page. Not a premium member of GuruFocus? Try it free for 7 days.
