Your Biggest Individual Stock Holding & Why ?

[jim584672]

I remember the Microsoft IPO in 1986 at $21 a share. Kicking myself now. Would probably be worth hundreds of thousands by now.

Biggest stock PFF, 6% divs are nice.

 

[Idnar7]

Using Stock Intersect CSG (reit) 3.13%
SO 1.14%
AAPL .96%
EXC .61%
MSFT .45%


CSG is my dry powder and pays a decent div. I sold a little over half of what I previously had. These are of my entire portfolio - IRA/Roth/Taxable.

 

[Donzo]

Pfizer, J&J and P&G in that order

 

[truenorth418]

Hasbro. And it's kind of a funny story.

For about a year after I early retired, I had a rule that if I was ever contacted for a job, even though I was retired, I would at least take the time to look into it, maybe even go for an interview, on the premise that it would not hurt to at least consider it, I had plenty of free time, and who knows maybe the job would be good enough that I might be willing to "un-retire" for a while.

So a head hunter called me out of the blue about a job at Hasbro. The initial phone screen with the head hunter led to several phone interviews with the HR people at Hasbro. The HR people seemed to be pretty impressed with me so they scheduled a phone interview for me with the hiring manager, the VP of marketing. The HR people assured me that this interview was very urgent, so I agreed to do it even though I would have to block off time during some fun summer travel I had scheduled with my GF. Well, my GF and I had to reschedule our travel a little bit so we could accommodate this phone interview. Not a big deal but still kind of a nuisance.

So I called the VP of Hasbro at the appointed time, only to discover that he was not in the office. In fact, he was also traveling - on vacation in the UK for a week! I guess, the HR people thought he would be willing to take time out of his travel to conduct the interview while on his vacation overseas. However, after about an hour waiting for their HR people to try to reach him on his vacation to see if he would take my call (that they had arranged), they came on the line and told me that sorry, they could not reach him, but they would get back to me when he got back the states to re-schedule the phone interview with him.

Of course, I never heard from them again.

Oh well, given their awful organization and horrible treatment over a phone interview, I knew I was better off.

The good news is that in my company research ahead of the phone interview, I determined that Hasbro stock looked undervalued and maybe a pretty good buy. So I bought some. And now that Hasbro stock is up over 140% since I bought it only 3 years ago.

 

[dunkelblau]

If both shares and vested calls net of strike are included, that would be my current employer's stock. Three reasons:
1. restricted stock unit grants awarded annually
2. non-qualified stock options (one-time deal for me, annual top-ups are above my pay grade)
3. employee stock purchase plan gives a small discount off the lower end of the window, so I've been maxing it out

At 4% of the total it shouldn't be a factor in OMY, but I admit it would suck royally now had I bailed at YE2012 when the calls were underwater and only a few percent had vested. With my luck they'd be screaming higher now like the ride Qualcomm caught in the late 1990s (that was ~30x in five years IIRC) and I'd be climbing the walls at Bellevue. Unfortunately for my co-workers, I decided to not let them get filthy rich without me, I stayed on so it's guaranteed not to happen. Still I'm surprised (and grateful) these are mildly green. Lots of gray head engineers around me I know could handle ER financially, but still working-- because we don't completely own our future.

 

[Slow But Steady]

Our biggest holding is CVX, at about 10% of our total. (It was about 15% until recently.)

The reason is that it's held in my wife's 401K, waiting to take advantage of Net Unrealized Appreciation rules. We've more than lost any tax savings we might have had, though the dividend is still good..

 

[check6]

EXAS. Medical test for colon cancer through DNA approved by the FDA last fall. Had several friends die from it because they like most in the world, never had a colonoscopy. This is almost as good as one and is taken every three years. Like many bio stocks, this is heavily shorted.

 

[Sunset]

BRK about 25%
Reason is because its like having a mutual fund that works for free.
Its super tax efficient, as it causes zero tax effect until you decide to sell some.

I'll also admit, its because I cannot think up any better rewarding with less risk things for large chunks of money.

 

[Andre1969]

My biggest individual holding is Cedar Fair (FUN), the company that owns Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, Canada's Wonderland, and a bunch of other amusement parks. I initially bought a bunch around 2009, I think. It was going for around $10 per share, and was paying out 25 cents per quarter, so I figured at 10%, I'd take my chances.

FUN is also listed as an MLP, so distributions aren't subject to federal taxes, although I think they do get hit with state and local.

Well, soon after I bought it, it dropped down to around $6-7 per share, so I took a chance and bought some more. Then, not long after that, damn if the distributions didn't dry up! But, the price started going back up. As it went up, I'd sell a bit off, and then buy a bit back on the dips. Eventually the distributions started again, and kept growing year after year. At the end of 2014, it started paying 75 cents per quarter, and with luck will go up again in December of this year.

The share price is also up to around $52-53 I think. It represents about 5.5% of my total investible assets.

 

[target2019]

On a pure STOCK analysis, Verizon VZ is about 6.4% measured against total portfolio.
Within the brokerage it is 22% measured against the total brokerage amount.

I don't have a tool that can do a stock intersection, but adding in VZ held in mutual funds, it is probably at least 7.5%.

Neat risk tool here:
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) Risk Assessment Tool - Nasdaq.com

 

[aaronc879]

Anyone think this Apple sell-off is excessive? I may have in increase my stake soon. If it goes to $115 i'm definitely going to find a way to increase my position. Maybe even sooner. It's seems noticeably under-priced now, doesn't it?

 

[W2R]

Amazing that everyone made an excellent choice in their biggest individual stock holding and nobody listed Radio Shack as their largest holding.

Are we all just excellent stock pickers? Makes me wonder why we index...

I don't have any individual stocks at all any more. Everything is in funds. My reasons are that I'm extremely retired, extremely lazy, and extremely risk averse. I'd rather have a portfolio that I can pretty much ignore, so that I can nap instead.

 

[mpeirce]

Anyone think this Apple sell-off is excessive? I may have in increase my stake soon. If it goes to $115 i'm definitely going to find a way to increase my position. Maybe even sooner. It's seems noticeably under-priced now, doesn't it?

With a PE below 14. Yeah, it's low.

Compare: MSFT PE is 30 and even CSCO is 16.

 

[target2019]

Anyone think this Apple sell-off is excessive? I may have in increase my stake soon. If it goes to $115 i'm definitely going to find a way to increase my position. Maybe even sooner. It's seems noticeably under-priced now, doesn't it?

It is 12% off the 1-year high. I think expectations were that APPL would hit a winner with the iWatchie. However, we had fitbits on our hand already and did not like the steep price for the Apple.

Apple Watch sales fall by 90 per cent

I will buy when the dividend gets closer to 2%. And yes, I am kicking self for not starting a position when it split.

 

[mpeirce]

It is 12% off the 1-year high. I think expectations were that APPL would hit a winner with the iWatchie. However, we had fitbits on our hand already and did not like the steep price for the Apple.

Apple Watch sales fall by 90 per cent

...or maybe listen to what Apple said during their last earning call:

Secondly, to provide a bit more color — sales of the Watch did exceed our expectations and they did so despite supply still trailing demand at the end of the quarter. And to give you a little additional insight, through the end of the quarter, in fact, the Apple Watch sell-through was higher than the comparable launch periods of the original iPhone or the original iPad. We only had 680 points of sale in the quarter for the Watch. Online sales were so great that we did not have inventory in our sales until June. And so those points of sale, pretty much the overwhelming majority of the low numbers of sales, were not there until the last two weeks of the quarter. As I look at all of these things, we feel really great.

DW and I are enjoying our Apple watches and I'm having fun playing around with writing a "native app" (love having enough free time for this in ER!) for it. Native apps will be available to the general public this fall when watchOS 2.0 ships. Folks had to wait much longer for native apps on the iPhone.

Give it a little time before you write it's obituary.

 

[imoldernu]

Stock holding? Miniscule... From some kind of adjustment many years ago... a few dozen shares of Metlife... from an insurance policy taken out when I was born, and found in the Rhode Island records graveyard.

Never paid any attention to it as the amount was so small. Today, I found this article that cites a 2nd quarter profit loss. I'm not concerned about that, but for the reason for the loss. A $593 million dollar loss in derivatives.

UPDATE 2-MetLife profit falls on derivatives losses | Reuters

MetLife Inc, the biggest U.S. life insurer, reported a 21 percent fall in quarterly profit, dragged down by $593 million in derivatives losses.

The company has long relied on its substantial derivatives program to hedge against risks that insurers are exposed to such as currency exchange rates, volatile equities markets and changes to interest rates.

MetLife blamed rising interest rates and the weakening of the dollar against certain currencies for the after-tax derivatives losses in the quarter ended June 30.

Further:

MetLife has been scaling back on capital-intensive businesses such as annuities and focusing on traditional life insurance and pension products as it gears up for new capital rules.

After years of delay, the U.S. Federal Reserve is drawing up nationwide capital standards for the $1-trillion insurance industry, in line with the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law.

Insurers fear they could become as heavily-regulated as the Wall Street banks and analysts have estimated that MetLife's capital levels could drop by 50 percent in a worst-case scenario under the new rules.

MetLife lowered its return on equity forecasts in May, partly due to uncertainty about the new rules.

Would be interested in hearing more about this apparent result of coming into compliance with Dodd-Frank. Will it be limited to large insurers? What about banks? There doesn't seem to be much discussion about this, either in the printed or digital media. While the final rules have not been written, and actual dates for compliance not determined... very little has been written about the potential dollar effect (except for the costs of coming into compliance... paper work and record keeping ).

So...any thoughts as to the who, and how much... of what has already happened, or is yet to be determined in terms of dollars. Have other corporations taken losses... either derivative or other losses in preparation for compliance with Dodd Frank?

 

[kcowan]

Anyone think this Apple sell-off is excessive? I may have in increase my stake soon. If it goes to $115 i'm definitely going to find a way to increase my position. Maybe even sooner. It's seems noticeably under-priced now, doesn't it?

I think the analysts who follow stocks have no visibility on the Chinese markets. So anything they do there gets discounted. The PE is now under 14. Google is just under 30. FB is over 90.

I am hanging in with my 2100 shares. I will not load up because of portfolio allocation.

 

[audreyh1]

Anyone think this Apple sell-off is excessive? I may have in increase my stake soon. If it goes to $115 i'm definitely going to find a way to increase my position. Maybe even sooner. It's seems noticeably under-priced now, doesn't it?

Buyers and sellers on Apple are always moody. I ignore most of the volatility.

 

[audreyh1]

It is 12% off the 1-year high. I think expectations were that APPL would hit a winner with the iWatchie. However, we had fitbits on our hand already and did not like the steep price for the Apple.

Apple Watch sales fall by 90 per cent

I will buy when the dividend gets closer to 2%. And yes, I am kicking self for not starting a position when it split.

I happily retired my fitbit when I could switch to the Apple Watch. It's really been great. It's kind of like the iPad, it's hard for a non-user to imagine how useful it really is.

Also, products like the Apple Watch take years to reach critical mass. I don't think there was really much of a run up in anticipation.

 

[Hermit]

Megacorp. They kept giving more to me in profit sharing. I sold a whole bunch, but they still seem to give me more. It is the only individual stock I own and it is not really an individual stock. They have it is a fund that only has megacorp stock and maybe some cash to cash people out.

 

[TallTim]

BRK-A is largest holding ... bought 4 shares over time at prices in the low to mid-$100ks, now about $215k per share. I sort of think of it as a good SPX analog with better prospects. It's currently about 11% of the total pile; AAPL is currently second, but by a good bit.

Recent ER so still heavy into equities and short-term instruments in our taxable accts. Will probably work that closer to a more balanced approach over a period of time.

 

[james22]

Berkshire 12%
Markel 8%
Fairfax 7%

 

[ERTX]

rai - 7%
t - 5%
clx - 5%
khc - 5%
jnj - 3%
gpc - 3%
gis - 3%

 

[Koolau]

My old Megacorp stock (now held in a brokerage account) provided as incentive/profit sharing. In the doldrums for years, it's taken off of late such that it is now my biggest holding. Plan to dump a fair amount of it soon.

 

[audreyh1]

My old Megacorp stock (now held in a brokerage account) provided as incentive/profit sharing. In the doldrums for years, it's taken off of late such that it is now my biggest holding. Plan to dump a fair amount of it soon.

That's nice! Wish mine would take off!