Why is Soros Dumping His Position With Banks?

Everyone’s favorite billionaire investor is back in the spotlight, and this time he has a few people wondering what he’s up to.

George Soros has dumped his position with several major banks including JPMorgan Chase, Capitol One, SunTrust, and Morgan Stanley. He has reduced his exposure to Citigroup and decreased his stake in AIG by two-thirds.

Associated Press.

In fact, Soros’ financial stock holdings are down by roughly 80 percent, a massive drop from his position just three months ago, according to SNL Financial.

So what’s the deal? What does he know that we don’t?

There could be a simple and non-nefarious explanation: He may be simply turning a profit. Financial stocks have in the past year surged in value and now would be a good time to sell.

But to better understand the Great Soros Selloff, we turn to Rich Smith of The Motley Fool for a closer look.

“If you look at the performance of these stocks, I think it might be as simple as he’s taking profit,” Smith said. “JPMorgan shares are up 56 percent … Morgan Stanley shares are up 85 percent, Citigroup up 91 percent, [and] AIG up 51 percent.”

“It’s entirely possible that all Soros is really doing here,” Smith added, “he could simply be thinking, ‘I’ve made some profits. Why don’t I cash them in?’”

He continues: “I don’t think that we need to reading too much into why Soros has decided to sell all stocks. It could be a simple as he wants to make some money.”

Soros may be a lot of things, but he is still a businessman. With financial stocks performing the way they are, selling now is, well, good business.

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Featured image AP photos. This post has been updated.