market folly

Keith Meister's hedge fund firm Corvex Management filed an amended 13D with the SEC regarding its position in Ralcorp (RAH).  Per the filing, Corvex has disclosed a 3.69% ownership stake in RAH with 2,031,540 shares.

They've reduced their position by selling shares on December 14th, 17th, and 18th at prices around $89.xx.  In total, they've reduced their position size by around 30%, selling 883,456 shares recently.

Corvex originally went activist on RAH in August of this year, arguing that the company should sell itself or merge with another food company, and that's exactly what's happened.

ConAgra last month agreed to acquire Ralcorp for $5 billion.  Shares of RAH currently trade just slightly below the $90 per share offer.  Perhaps Corvex was simply taking money off the table to deploy to more compelling opportunities now.  We've also highlighted how Corvex has gone activist on ADT.

Per Google Finance, Ralcorp is "engaged in manufacturing, distributing and marketing private-brand food products and other regional and value-brand food products in the grocery, mass merchandise, drugstore and foodservice channels. The Company’s products include nutritional bars; snack mixes, corn-based chips and extruded corn snack products; crackers and cookies; snack nuts; chocolate candy; salad dressings; mayonnaise; peanut butter; jams and jellies; syrups; sauces; frozen griddle products, including pancakes, waffles and French toast; frozen biscuits and other frozen pre-baked products, such as breads and rolls; frozen and refrigerated doughs, and dry pasta."