Investing

Stanley Druckenmiller Closed Out 22 Positions And Rolled the Proceeds Into These 3 Stocks

Will Ashworth

Published: January 12, 2025 12:06 pm

Stanley Druckenmiller ran Duquesne Capital Management for 24 years, from 1986 to 2010. Over that time, he delivered 30% annual returns, an exceptional performance over such a long period. 

However, in 2020, the billionaire closed his hedge fund and opened the Duquesne Family Office to invest his family’s considerable wealth. According to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, Druckenmiller started the family office with $3 billion. He’s now worth $11 billion.

Key Points About This Article:

• Druckenmiller’s family office made enormous profits on three stocks in the latest quarter. 
• The billionaire’s family office reallocated the proceeds into 33 stocks with an emphasis on regional banking. 
• Sit back and let dividends do the heavy lifting for a simple, steady path to serious wealth creation over time. Grab a free copy of “2 Legendary High-Yield Dividend Stocks” now.

Duquesne, as are all institutional investors in the U.S., must file a quarterly 13F holdings report with the SEC because it manages at least $100 million in assets. 

The family office’s Q3 2024 13F was $2.95 billion, invested in 75 stocks. That was up from 64 in the second quarter. Druckenmiller sold out of 22 stocks, adding 33 new stocks, for a net addition of 11 companies in the quarter. 

Of the 33 new stocks added in the third quarter, these three stand out as the most intriguing buys, if not the largest.  

These 3 Stocks Paid for Duquesne’s New Additions

As mentioned in the introduction, the family office sold out of 22 positions during the third quarter. Most were in the communications, healthcare, technology and utilities sectors. 

The largest sale by shares sold was Option Care Health (NASDAQ:OPCH), a healthcare company that provides infusion therapy services. Duquesne sold 1.78 million shares for approximately $53 million in proceeds. As of the second quarter ended June 30, 2024, it was the family office’s 18th-largest position. 

However, the sale of Vistra (NYSE:VST) stock–2.23 million shares sold (85% of holdings) for $265 million–and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)–357,395 shares sold (89% of holdings) for $154 million–that provided the greatest amount of capital to redeploy.

The former went from Duquesne’s third-largest holding as of the second quarter to 14th at the end of the third quarter, while Microsoft went from sixth to 34th. 

The family office sold both of these for profit-taking. 

Druckenmiller first bought Vistra shares in Q3 2023. Over time, it paid an average of $31.28 a share, and the share price finished the quarter at nearly $119. Druckenmiller’s done well. 

As for Microsoft, the family office first acquired shares in Q2 2015. According to its 13F, it owned 1.4 million shares of the Seattle tech giant. Based on its chart, it likely paid around $45 for those shares. Today, they’re worth 10 times that. 

Another big win.

These 3 Buys Stand Out

The three sales mentioned in the previous section generated $472 million in proceeds. That gave Druckenmiller plenty of ammunition to buy 33 more stocks.

The largest purchase of the 33 was the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (NYSEARCA:KRE). Duquesne acquired 2.05 million shares of the ETF, vaulting into seventh place among the 74 stocks.

I don’t think there’s any question Druckenmiller is bullish about banks, especially the regional kind, as a result of the deregulation that’s expected under the Trump administration. By the end of November, KRE was up to a 52-week high of $69.14 but has since fallen back to the low $60s.

The second interesting bet was the purchase by the family office of 663,090 shares of U.S. Steel (NYSE:X) for an average price of $37.89, several dollars higher than where it’s currently trading. 

Of course, shares of the American steel company have fallen back some after President Biden blocked the $14.3 billion sale of the company to Japan’s Nippon Steel (OTCMKTS:NPSCY) because it wasn’t in the country’s best interests to have such an important industry and company controlled by a foreign business. 

Donald Trump said he would block the deal so his administration will handle the joint lawsuit that Nippon and U.S. Steel filed.

The last of the trio is KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY), the Cleveland-based regional bank. 

Duquesne purchased 13 financial services stocks during the quarter, including KEY and KRE. While Keycorp enters the portfolio as the 51st largest stock, it is intriguing because of the recent investment by Canada’s Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS). 

Initially announced in August 2024, the Canadian bank completed its acquisition of $2 billion in KEY stock on Dec. 27. The purchase gives BNS a 14.9% minority investment in the regional bank. 

The investment is part of Bank of Nova’s move away from Latin America to North America. On Jan. 6, it announced the sale of its businesses in Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama to the Colombian bank Davivienda.