Gurus Trade in Eight Dutch Companies in Fourth Quarter

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Mar 12, 2015
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Gurus bought and sold stock in eight companies based in the Netherlands in the fourth quarter, but they were doing more selling than buying.

Two gurus bought stakes in Dutch companies that are new to their portfolios – Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) and MS Global Franchise Fund (Trades, Portfolio). Oakmark International Small Cap added to an existing stake.

Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) bought 180,023 shares of Randstad Holding NV (XAMS:RAND, Financial), the world's second-largest HR service provider behind Swiss-based Adecco, for an average price of €36.68 (~$39 USD) per share. That purchase had a 0.6% impact on Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio)’s portfolio.

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Oakmark reduced its stake in Randstad by 111,000 shares. Oakmark sold the shares for an average price of €36.77 (~$39.09 USD) per share. The transaction had a -0.19% impact on Oakmark’s portfolio.

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Randstad has a P/E of 29.6 and a Price/Book of 2.9.

Oakmark added to its stake in Brunel International (XAMS:BRNL, Financial), an Amsterdam-based provider of temporary employees serving the information technology, energy, engineering and non-technical fields, buying 596,00 shares for an average price of €15.69 (~$16.68 USD) per share. The acquisition had a 0.35% impact on Oakmark’s portfolio.

Brunel International has a P/E of 18.2 and a Price/Book of 3.1.

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Oakmark sold 339,000 shares of Fugro (XAMS:FUR, Financial), a Dutch provider of geotechnical, survey and geoscience services to oil and gas, renewable energy, building and infrastructure, mining and public sector industries. Fugro employs more than 12,000 people in 60 countries.

Oakmark sold the shares for an average price of €18.2 (~$19.35 USD). The sale had an impact of -0.37% on Oakmark’s portfolio.

Fugro has a P/E of 0 and a Price/Book of 1.3.

MS Global Franchise Fund (Trades, Portfolio) bought a 130,711-share stake in Reed Elsevier NV (XAMS:REN, Financial), a publishing and information company with offices in London and New York, for an average price of €18.55 (~$19.72 USD) per share. The buy had a 0.54% impact on MS Global’s portfolio.

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Causeway International Value (Trades, Portfolio) sold 507,103 shares of Reed Elsevier for the same average price of €18.55 per share. The sale had a -0.18% impact on Causeway’s portfolio.

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Invesco European Growth Fund (Trades, Portfolio) sold 368,713 shares of Reed Elsevier for an average price of £9.78 (~$14.70 USD). The transaction had a -0.35% impact on Invesco’s portfolio.

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Reed Elsevier has a P/E of 25.4 and a Price/Book of 11.6.

Two gurus reduced their stakes in Koninklijke Ahold NV (XAMS:AH, Financial), a Dutch international retailer that was founded in 1887.

David Herro (Trades, Portfolio) sold 2,406,000 shares in Koninkliijke Ahold for an average price of €13.52 (~ $14.37 USD). The transaction had a -0.13% impact on Herro’s portfolio.

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Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) reduced its stake in Koninkliijke Ahold by 830,142 shares, selling them for an average price of €13.49 (~$14.34 USD). The sale had a -0.68% impact on Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio)’s portfolio.

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Koninkliijke Ahold has a P/E of 22.0 and a Price/Book of 2.7.

Herro also sold 2,423,000 shares of Heineken Holding NV (XAMS:HEIO), a brewing company that was founded in Amsterdam in 1864. Herro sold the shares for an average price of €51.85 (~$55.12 USD) per share. The sale had a -0.57% impact on Herro’s portfolio.

Tweedy Browne (Trades, Portfolio) Global Value has shares of Heineken in its portfolio. Heineken has a P/E of 24.2 and a Price/Book of 1.4.

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Wasatch International Growth (Trades, Portfolio) Fund sold 146,462 shares of Nostrum Oil & Gas PLC (LSE:NOG), an oil and gas exploration and production company operating in Kazakhstan with its headquarters in Amsterdam, for an average price of £6.07 (~$9.12 USD) per share. The transaction had a -0.13% impact on Wasatch’s portfolio.

Nostrum has a P/E of 11.2 and a Price/Book of 2.1.

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Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) sold 3,210,129 shares of Wolters Kluwer NV (XAMS:WKL), a Dutch information services and publishing company, for an average price of €22.33 (~$23.74 USD) per share. The sale had a -4.46% impact on Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio)’s portfolio.

Wolters Kluwer has a P/E of 26.1 and a Price/Book of 5.5.

The Amsterdam Stock Exchange is believed to be the oldest in the world although there is disagreement over whether it was the first. Established in the early 17th century, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange merged with the Brussels Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange in 2000 to form Euronext, now known as Euronext Amsterdam.

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