Here's What Billionaire Activist Carl Icahn Has Been Buying and Selling

Source: Insider Monkey.

Every quarter, many money managers have to disclose what they've bought and sold via "13F" filings. Their latest moves can shine a bright light on smart stock picks.

Today, let's look at investing giant Carl Icahn, who has made billions, partly by taking large positions in companies and pushing for change in them. These companies have included Texaco, RJR Nabisco, and Imclone. He's also drawn to companies in or near bankruptcy, wanting to make them more valuable in order to sell them at a higher price.

Icahn's reportable stock portfolio totaled $32 billionin value as of March 31, 2015. Its top twoholdings, Icahn Enterprises L.P. and Apple make up 51% of the overall portfolio's value. Icahn's stake in Apple is worth more than $6 billion, but that doesn't even constitute 1% of Apple's value. Nevertheless, he has been agitating for an increase in share buybacks -- and along with its last earnings report, the company did boostits capital return plans from $130 billion to $200 billion, reflecting both dividends and stock buybacks.

Interesting developmentsSo, what does Icahn Associates' latest quarterly 13F filing tell us? Here are a few interesting details.

He sold all of his Talisman Energy position, for one thing. The Canadian energy company was whacked by the fall in the price of oil and has been acquiredby Spain's Repsol S.A. There were no other sales in Icahn's portfolio over the last quarter.

Four holdings saw the size of their position increase: Icahn's Voltari Corp stake surged by 598%, while its Manitowoc Company Inc position grew by 135%.

Source:Insider Monkey.

It's interesting that while Apple is the market's most highly valued company by far, with a market cap topping $700 billion, Voltari (formerly called Motricity) is a small-cap mobile advertising company, with a market cap recently close to $70 million -- and as of the end of March, Icahn owned about 52% of the company. His big buys helped propel the shares, which have more than tripledover the past year. Icahn has made money on Voltari recently (after losingmoney on it years ago), but interestingly, the company itself has been losing money, posting a stringof net losses and negative free cash flow. The mobile advertising business is expected to grow wildly, but it's not clear that Voltari will be a big winner in it, and so far, its results are unimpressive. Some have speculatedthat it won't be surprising to see Icahn having shrunk his position by next quarter. Others believe the company is waiting for someone to buy it for its heftytax-loss carry-forwards.

When it comes to Manitowoc, Icahn has more clearly been successful, agitating for the company to split off its crane business from its restaurant and kitchen equipment business. The company announced in January that it would indeed pursue that strategy. It's a very different situation than that of Voltari, as Manitowoc has been posting profits for years and is free-cash-flow positive. Its net margins have been rising, too, and it offers a modest dividend, recently yielding 0.4%. Its last quarterwas a little disappointing, though, with the crane division meeting internal expectations, but the food service division underperforming. The stock seems priced attractively relative to recent years, but its near-term expectations are lackluster, making it less of a bargain at the moment -- though the splitting of its businesses is expectedto unlock some value.

We should never blindly copy any investor's moves, no matter how talented the investor. But it can be useful to keep an eye on what smart folks are doing. 13-F forms can be great places to find intriguing candidates for our portfolios.

The article Here's What Billionaire Activist Carl Icahn Has Been Buying and Selling originally appeared on Fool.com.

Longtime Fool specialistSelena Maranjian, whom you can follow on Twitter,owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2015 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.