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Monsanto update



For those of us who've been following Monsanto, this will come as a news item of interest. Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world, has just dumped its Monsanto shares--all $17.5 million of it.

And for those of you who followed my Tweets, there was one Tweet I wrote in 2011 in which I predicted the end of Monsanto would happen in November 2013. Go dig that up, folks!

Here's more below from the Motley Fool (oddly, I read websites that give advice on stocks and shares. I've been subscribed to the Motley Fool, off and on, for about 15 years now. Oddly, since I don't hold any stocks or shares.)
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This excerpt taken from the Motley Fool, a website that gives advice on investing.

Bridgewater Associates is the largest hedge fund in the world when it comes to assets under management. Founded by Ray Dalio in 1975, the fund's status as world's largest tells us two things: First, it has done enough to win the confidence of money managers. Second, any trades made by this behemoth are likely to move a given stock's price.
Over the course of the third quarter of this year, the fund sold or reduced positions in 234 stocks while adding only 87 different companies' shares to their portfolio. Of all those trades, three stood out as worthy of attention.

Monsanto (NYSE: MON  )

Source: Chrishonduras, via Wikimedia Commons.
Unlike Disney and Sysco, Bridgewater decided to part with all of its Monsanto shares -- worth somewhere in the ballpark of $17.5 million. The company -- a major agribusiness player that markets both pesticides as well as genetically modified seeds to farmers -- certainly hasn't been a public favorite, but that's not likely why Bridgewater parted ways.
Though it holds a 27% share of the global seed market and a 10% share of the global agrochemical market, Monsanto shareholders haven't had too much to cheer about lately. The stock is underperforming the broader market by about 10 percentage points in 2013 -- pushed lower by disappointing earnings in early October and flat sales.
The chance for lower sales of corn seeds because of a bumper crop this year, as well as some weeds and bugs developing resistance to Monsanto's Roundup-Ready products, may have also played a role in Bridgewater's decision to say goodbye to the stock.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/11/25/what-the-worlds-largest-hedge-fund-is-buying-and-s.aspx
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