The single biggest stock holding of the family office of George Soros in the fourth quarter is Israel-based drug manufacturer Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Reuters revealed based on a February 14 filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing revealed that the billionaire investor's holding in the biggest generic drugmaker in the world was 9.3 million shares. Bloomberg News first reported the ownership of Soros Fund Management on Sunday, February 16, 2013. The SEC filing showed that Soros' stake in Teva is $373 million, representing 4% of the value of the fund, the Reuters report said.
Teva said earlier this month that its earnings for the fourth quarter increased 8% because of more robust sales in their specialty medicines and US generics drugs. The earnings of the Israeli firm was $1.42 per share without including one-time items. This outperformed analysts' estimates of $1.40 and the $1.32 per share earnings the year before. Its revenue has increased to $5.43 billion, representing a rise of 3%. Teva's stock has gone up 10.3% so far in 2014, the report said.
In the last three months of last year, Soros exited the stake he held in retailer JC Penney and reduced his holdings in Herbalife, Reuters reported on February 14. The divestments of one of the most closely tracked investors in the hedge fund industry marked a change in its strategy as the sales happened just months after the stakes were bought.
Regulatory filings revealed that Soros Fund Management, the second largest stakeholder in JC Penney, offloaded 19.98 million shares in the last quarter of 2013. In Herbalife, where the family office was the fifth largest investor, the stake of Soros Fund Management was slashed from 5 million shares to 3.2 million shares, the report said.
Industry data showed that the company founded by the 83-year old billionaire earned $5.5 billion last year, the report said.
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