Appaloosa Management LP, a hedge fund run by David Tepper, cut its holdings of Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) and Fifth Third Bancorp during the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing showed that banks represented the top three holdings in the fund and financials accounted for six of the top ten positions at the fund by the end of the second quarter.
Tepper also purchased 4.8 million shares of Macy’s Inc which was valued at $86.6 as of June 30th. The fund also doubled its share in Merck to 3.84 million shares and increased its holdings of Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) to 11.3 million shares during the quarter.
Appaloosa had also cut its holdings in financials during the first quarter, selling more than half of its preferred stock holding in American International Group (NYSE: AIG) and cut its preferred stake in Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC).
Tepper’s largest fund, Appaloosa Investment LP, had a 117.3% return for the first three quarters of 2009, the best performing of hedge funds with more than $1 billion in assets, according to data from Bloomberg. Tepper invested heavily in bank stocks during the market dip during early 2009 and reaped gains when the financial industry saw a recovery.
