Ackman Does About-Face at Lowe's

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bill Ackman's Pershing Square hedge fund sold its position in Lowe's (LOW) - Get Report after he bought the company in the third quarter. He added a substantial amount to Canadian Pacific (CP) - Get Report shares.

The only new investment revealed in the fourth-quarter regulatory filing was the addition of

Beam Inc.

(BEAM)

, which was the result of a split of

Fortune Brands

(FBHS) - Get Report

in October. Ackman got one share of Beam for every Fortune Brands share he owned, a transaction he pushed for when building a position in the company in 2010. Beam now operates the liquor business (Maker's Mark and Jim Beam), while Fortune Brands encompasses the home and security business (Master Lock and Moen).

Both stocks have jumped since they began trading separately Oct. 4. Between then and the end of the fourth quarter, Beam rallied 15%, and Fortune Brands shot up 38% -- proof of a good investment.

Of Ackman's 10 investments in the fund, Beam and Fortune Brands are tied at No. 6, each representing 8.7% of the portfolio. Canadian Pacific is now ranked No. 4, up from No. 8 in the previous quarter and representing 10.1% of the fund. Of note, it was announced that Pershing Square owned a 12.2% stake in the Calgary-based railroad company at the end of October, but that increased to 14.2% at the end of January, matching the number of shares in today's 13-F filing.

Ackman is known for making big investments in companies and then pressuring for asset sales or other strategic changes he believes will boost the stock price. In the case of Canadian Pacific, Ackman is pushing for a new CEO to improve operations. His candidate is former

Canadian National Railway

(CNI) - Get Report

CEO Hunter Harrison. Ackman is also gearing up for a proxy battle at the company's shareholder meeting in May. He is backing a new five-director slate that would replace the current one and help spur the CEO change he desires.

Investments in

General Growth Properties

(GGP)

and

JCPenney

(JCP) - Get Report

remained unchanged. They're the two largest holdings, representing 30% and 16% of the total portfolio.

Ackman announced Lowe's as a long idea at an investor conference in mid-November, but has already exited the stock. Between Nov. 8, when it was rumored he was buying the shares, and the end of the year, Lowe's appreciated 11%. Ackman's angle on the investment in Lowe's was unclear, but taking profits last quarter enabled the fund to keep its concentration to 10 stocks, as is typical.

No other holdings were added during the quarter, but Ackman reduced his positions in

Kraft Foods

( KFT),

Family Dollar

(FDO)

and

Citigroup

(C) - Get Report

.

--

Written by Lindsey Bell in

New York.

>To follow the writer on Twitter, go to

Lindsey Bell

.