Billionaire Bill Ackman has established a name for himself as an outspoken investor who takes activist stances through his hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management. Unlike many other hedge fund managers, who invest in thousands of stocks and often have huge teams buying and selling, Ackman's fund has a small number of stocks at any given time in which it takes a significant position. Right now, it has only 11 stocks. These are the top five.
Strong consumer brands
What stands out in Ackman's portfolio is the emphasis on strong consumer brands. Its top holding, though, as of the third quarter, is Brookfield Corporation (BN -1.16%). Brookfield is kind of like a holding company. It offers wealth management services, and it also operates businesses involved in infrastructure, energy, real estate, and other industrial services. Ackman first took a position in Brookfield in the second quarter, and it accounts for 14% of the portfolio as of the third quarter.
The second-largest holding is longtime fund favorite Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT -0.72%), which was the largest position last quarter. In third place is Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG -1.12%), which was the top holding for a long time. Ackman hasn't lost confidence in Chipotle -- he increased his position by nearly 3,400% in the first quarter. But he has since added other stocks, notably Brookfield and Nike (which is the sixth-largest position and so didn't make this list). Chipotle has also lost value over the past few months, accounting for its lesser portion of the fund's overall value.
Rounding out the top five are Restaurant Brands International (QSR -0.46%) and Howard Hughes Holdings (HHH -0.49%), both of which are longtime holdings. Restaurant Brands owns brands like Burger King and Popeye's, and Howard Hughes is a real estate company.
Since Pershing Square has such a limited group of stocks, each of these companies accounts for a similar amount of the total, and the value of the fund they represent can easily fluctuate based on price movements.
