Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman sold all of his shares in J.C. Penney to the retailer according to CNN .
"J.C. Penney showed some progress in its recent earnings, but it still hasn't proved it can pull of a turnaround," BTIG analyst Wil Frohnhoefer told CNN Money. "Investors will now be laser-focused on sales, the broader trends in retail and any new material information for J.C. Penney."
According to Belus Capital Advisors chief equities strategist Brian Sozzi as reported by CNN Money, several pieces of information were kept private from Ackman for a lengthy period of time. Ackman was therefore inclined to take a loss on his investment because he was worried he would lose more money than he already had.
Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management started to purchase the retailer in Oct. 2010 at a time when shares were $25 each CNN Money reported.
Pershing then sold all of its 39 million shares to Citigroup, which now offers the shares at $12.90 each; this gives Ackman about $500 million in losses CNN Money reported.
According to CNN Money, J.C. Penney filed the deal with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission along with statements from Pershing Monday. Ackman resigned from J.C. Penney's board earlier this month after conflicts about the leadership of the retailer. Ackman was also not pleased with Chief Executive Officer Mike Ullman and wanted to replace him, but couldn't because the company was in support of him. Therefore Ackman step down.
Ackman originally picked former Apple executive Ron Johnson to take charge of J.C. Penney, but the partnership did not work out after the strategy Johnson put in place led customers away from stores CNN Money reported. The move also showed drops in sales for many quarters for the retailer.
CNN reported J.C. Penney will now focus on re-making the company.
