Pershing Square's Hedge Fund Set-Up For Target (TGT) Dropped 68%

Pershing Square's William Ackman’s hedge fund that was established to invest in Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) fell 68% last year, more than double Target's actual loss.

In just December, Pershing Square IV declined 7.7%, according to a letter to investors from Bill Ackman. Bloomberg reported that Ackman and Pershing spent about $2 billion in 2007 for its stake in Target. Since that time, Ackman has pressed Target to increase shareholder value. He wanted Target to buy shares back, sell its credit-card unit and extract more value from its real estate holdings.

In 2007, Pershing Square IV loss approximately 43%. This particular fund is structured so its returns to investors double TGT's actual movement.

Target did make some of Ackman's suggested moves, such as announcing a $10 billion share buyback program in 2007 and sold almost 50% of its credit-card portfolio to JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $3.6 billion last year.

Sign up at EasyStockAlerts for free to see your stock news before it breaks to the rest of the public!
Target Corporation (Target) operates general merchandise and food discount stores in the United States, which include Target and SuperTarget stores.