Market-beating activist investor Dan Loeb just added Amazon — Here's what else he's buying

Published Fri, Feb 14 202011:10 AM EST

Jesse Pound @/in/jesse-pound @jesserpound

Activist investor Dan Loeb and his hedge fund Third Point, which has racked up 14% annual returns since 1996, aggressively shifted positions in major tech stocks last quarter. Third Point bought 70,000 shares of Amazon , a position worth roughly $129 million at the end of the fourth quarter quarter, according to a securities filing. However, it dissolved positions in Microsoft and PayPal that had been worth more than $360 million combined. Loeb is one of the financial world's most high-profile activists, and news of his taking positions in companies can lead to major stock moves. He has targeted Sony several times in recent years, with the company rejecting his calls to sell off parts of its business last September. In the past, he has been known to send aggressive letters to companies, proposing big changes, including the removal of management. Though recently, his investing campaigns have been less contentious. Third Point still has 1.5 million shares of Sony, but it changed its position in several other companies during the fourth quarter. Here's what else he's betting on... Loeb bought an additional 125,000 shares in Adobe , making that stake worth roughly $313 million, and increased his shares of Five Below by 41%. The position in the discount retailer is now worth more than $150 million. Third Point also took a sizeable stake in defense contractor Raytheon . The hedge fund accumulated more than 555,000 shares in the company, a value of $122 million. Other major additions include a nearly $306 million position in IAA and $149 million stake in T.D. Ameritrade . In addition to bailing out on the two major tech companies mentioned above, Third Point also reduced its holdings in Fox from 8 million shares to 5 million shares. It also had a $380 million stake in Sotheby's at the end of the third quarter, but the company was bought and taken private by French billionaire Patrick Drahi in October. Recent activist positions by Loeb include a bitter fight with Campbell Soup management that lead to a lawsuit . Third Point sold about 15% of its shares in the food company last quarter, but still reported a position worth roughly $712 million. The publicly traded version of his fund, Third Point Offshore, reported a 17.1% gain in 2019 , trailing global equities but a significant bounce back from an 11.3% loss in 2018. Four times a year, hedge funds file their long positions with the SEC, and the information is released to the public 45 days after each quarter ends.

Dan Loeb at 2014 WEF in Davos, Switzerland.

Justin Solomon | CNBC

Activist investor Dan Loeb and his hedge fund Third Point, which has racked up 14% annual returns since 1996, aggressively shifted positions in major tech stocks last quarter.

Third Point bought 70,000 shares of Amazon, a position worth roughly $129 million at the end of the fourth quarter quarter, according to a securities filing. However, it dissolved positions in Microsoft and PayPal that had been worth more than $360 million combined.

Loeb is one of the financial world's most high-profile activists, and news of his taking positions in companies can lead to major stock moves. He has targeted Sony several times in recent years, with the company rejecting his calls to sell off parts of its business last September. In the past, he has been known to send aggressive letters to companies, proposing big changes, including the removal of management. Though recently, his investing campaigns have been less contentious.

Third Point still has 1.5 million shares of Sony, but it changed its position in several other companies during the fourth quarter.

Here's what else he's betting on...