Maltese Capital ups stakes in Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs in Q4'21

Maltese Capital Management LLC increased its stakes in Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the company's most recent Form 13F filing.

The firm entered 13 equity positions and exited 12 prior investments during the quarter, and the total market value of its stock holdings rose by about 5.0% to $605.5 million at the end of 2021, compared to $576.7 million as of Sept. 30, 2021.

Among the firm's top 20 holdings, its largest quarter-over-quarter investment increase was in Wells Fargo. Maltese owned 242,500 shares in the company at the end of the quarter, compared to 135,000 at the end of the third quarter.

Maltese grew its stake in Citigroup by 67.9% — to 235,000 shares from 140,000 shares at the end of the third quarter — and it increased its investment in Goldman Sachs by 34.3% to 23,500 shares.

The biggest decrease among the firm's top 20 holdings was for Ameris Bancorp — a 12.7% drop to 187,500 shares.

Homebuilder Lennar Corp. remained Maltese's largest position by market value, at $19.5 million as of Dec. 31, 2021.

Maltese Capital's biggest new stake for the quarter was its 550,000-share investment in P10 Inc., which was worth $7.7 million at year-end. P10 closed its IPO during the fourth quarter of 2021. Other new investments included stakes in CVB Financial Corp. and Cadence Bank worth $5.6 million at year-end and $4.3 million at year-end, respectively.

The firm's biggest exit was from BrightSphere Investment Group Inc., in which it invested 550,645 shares with a market value of $14.4 million as of Sept. 30, 2021. During the 2021 third quarter, BrightSphere completed the sale of its 75% ownership interest in forestry investment and management company Campbell Global LLC to JP Morgan Asset Management.