Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller Sold His Entire Stake in Palantir in Favor of a Smoking-Hot High-Yield Dividend Stock That's Doubled in 15 Months

Key Points

• Quarterly-filed Form 13Fs allow investors to track the buying and selling activity of Wall Street's leading money managers.

• Stanley Druckenmiller sent nearly 770,000 shares of Palantir Technologies to the chopping block -- and it may have to do with more than just simple profit-taking.

• Meanwhile, Duquesne's billionaire investor built up a greater than 1.1-million-share position in a company with exceptional pricing power that offers game-changing innovation.

• 10 stocks we like better than Palantir Technologies ›

Nothing bears more importance on Wall Street than data. The only problem is the sheer amount of information investors have to digest can be overwhelming and allow something of importance to slip through the cracks.

For example, the heart of earnings season marked the filing deadline (May 15) for Form 13F with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This is a required filing no later than 45 calendar days following the end to a quarter by institutional investors with at least $100 million in asset under management (AUM). Its purpose is to provide a concise snapshot for investors of which stocks Wall Street's brightest investment minds purchased and sold in the latest quarter.

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Keeping close tabs on 13Fs is how investors have been able to ride Warren Buffett's coattails to significant long-term gains. However, Buffett is far from the only billionaire asset manager known for their keen investment insights and outsized returns.

Image source: Getty Images.

Stanley Druckenmiller of Duquesne Family Office is another billionaire who has a knack for picking out winners. Druckenmiller runs a fairly active fund that closed out the March quarter with more than $3 billion in AUM spread across 52 securities (stocks and options contracts).

Though Duquesne's billionaire chief has moved in and out of dozens of stocks over the previous year (April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025), based on 13Fs, Druckenmiller's investment activity in two industry titans stands out. Specifically, he jettisoned his fund's entire stake in high-flying artificial intelligence (AI) stock Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) and has piled into a high-yield dividend stock that's doubled in value since April 2024.

Stanley Druckenmiller dumped Palantir (and it may have to do with more than profit taking)

Spanning the previous four 13Fs (a one-year period), Duquesne Family Office has completely exited 55 positions. Debatably, the most eye-popping sale is that of AI data-mining specialist Palantir. Between the end of March 2024 and the close of the first quarter of 2025, billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller sold a 769,965-share stake.

Since 2023 began, Palantir stock has rallied by nearly 2,000%. The company's sustained sales growth of 25% to 35%, its highly predictable operating cash flow, and the irreplaceability of its government-focused Gotham platform and enterprise-powered Foundry platform at scale, have made it a stock to own.

With the average stock in Druckenmiller's fund held for less than nine months, there's a reasonable chance this selling activity in Palantir represented nothing more than simple profit-taking. After all, megacap and industry-leading companies don't typically increase in value by 2,000% in 30 months.

But there may be more to Druckenmiller dumping Palantir stock than meets the eye.

For starters, Duquesne's billionaire investor believes artificial intelligence may be overhyped in the short run. While Druckenmiller views AI as a long-term corporate growth driver, he rightly recognizes that every next-big-thing trend for more than three decades has endured a bubble-bursting event early in its expansion. Considering that most businesses aren't yet generating a positive return on their AI investments, nor are they optimizing their AI solutions, we're likely witnessing the early stages of an AI bubble.

If history were to repeat and the AI bubble bursts, Palantir stock would almost certainly feel the pain. Though its government contract revenue and subscriptions would help insulate its existing sales, negative investor sentiment would make Palantir stock a target.

Another reason Druckenmiller may have sent all of his fund's Palantir shares to the chopping block is its indefensible valuation. While companies with double-digit sales growth and sustainable moats do deserve some form of valuation premium, Palantir has pushed the envelope of reason. It closed out the July 3 trading session at a trailing-12-month price-to-sales ratio of 107, which is roughly triple the level where other megacap companies on the leading edge of next-big-thing tech innovations have previously had their bubbles pop.

Lastly, Palantir's earnings quality isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Last year, 40% of its pre-tax income traced back to interest earned on its cash. This makes Palantir's nosebleed valuation all the more egregious.

Image source: Getty Images.

Duquesne's billionaire chief piled into this smoking-hot high-yield dividend stock

But while billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller was showing shares of Palantir to the door, he was rolling out the red carpet for what's become one of the Wall Street's smoking-hot high-yield dividend stocks. Between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025, Duquesne Family Office built up a 1,105,268-share position in tobacco colossus Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM).

It's no secret that tobacco stocks have faced numerous growth headwinds for more than a decade. Stringent marketing regulations in developed countries, coupled with campaigns by health agencies to educate consumers about the dangers of long-term tobacco use, have weighed on demand for traditional tobacco products.

But in spite of these headwinds, Philip Morris International stock has doubled over the last 15 months. Even with Druckenmiller modestly paring his fund's stake in Philip Morris during the March-ended quarter, it's still Duquesne's fifth-largest holding (approximately 5.7% of invested assets, as of March 31).

One of Philip Morris' prime advantages is that it's an international tobacco company that's servicing in the neighborhood of 180 countries. Even if cigarette shipment volume dips in developed countries where marketing is restrictive, there's a good chance demand for tobacco products in faster-growing emerging markets remains strong. In many emerging markets, tobacco is something of a luxury.

Don't overlook the additive nature of tobacco products, either. Tobacco contains nicotine, which is an additive substance. Smokers have demonstrated a willingness to absorb price increases that, in many instances, more than offset any shipment volume declines to developed countries.

But what's really set Philip Morris International's stock ablaze is the company's smoke-free business. This is the segment that houses its IQOS heated tobacco system, as well as its Zyn nicotine pouches. Total heated tobacco units sold in the March-ended quarter rose nearly 12% year-over-year to 37.1 billion, with IQOS' market share (in applicable countries) climbing.

As for Zyn, 223.4 million cans were shipped in the first quarter, representing more than 53% year-over-year growth. We're witnessing the real-time transformation of Philip Morris from a traditional tobacco company to one that features smoke-free solutions -- and it's reaccelerated Philip Morris' growth rate.

Druckenmiller may also be attracted to Philip Morris' rock-solid payout. Its base annual dividend of $5.40 per share works out to a 3% yield, which is more than double the average yield of S&P 500 companies.

Though Philip Morris International stock is no longer a screaming bargain at 22 times forward-year earnings, it does have a knack for blowing the doors off of Wall Street's consensus profit forecasts. If it can continue to do so, its shares may still have room to run.

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Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Philip Morris International. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.