Eddie Lampert Holds $370 Million Of Sears And Isn't Selling

The S&P 500 has had quite a run to brand new all-time highs in 2016. Sears Holding Corp (NASDAQ: SHLD) has not enjoyed the fun.

The battered retailer is down another 42.6 percent in 2016 and is now down 93.2 percent in the past decade.

While a number of Sears investors may have given up hope that the company can ever deliver a successful turnaround, billionaire CEO Eddie Lampart remains optimistic. In fact, he’s putting a large amount of his own money into transforming Sears into a viable investment.

Back in August, the controversial hedge fund manager once again lent Sears $300 million via his ESL Investments fund. The latest loan is part of a series of loans Sears has received in recent years to make up for ballooning quarterly earnings losses. Earlier in 2016, Lampert loaned Sears $125 million.

At this point, Lampert holds more than 31 million shares of Sears stock worth roughly $370 million. But Lampert is showing no signs of hedging his massive bet on Sears. As recently as November 30, Lampert reported acquired another 22,124 shares in a non-open market transaction.

Insider trading activity at Sears has died down in the second half of the year after some major buying and selling in early 2016.

Much of the significant insider volume came from Bruce Berkowitz’s Fairholme Capital, which has been both buying and selling shares of Sears throughout the year. The fund’s most recent move was an 11,700-share sell on October 7, but the fund still holds more than 27.7 million shares.

Image: Mike Mozart, Flickr