Atticus Capital, a significant hedge fund, disclosed a 5.4% stake in Sotheby’s purchased recently. The move has been reported on a number of financial sites but here’s Seeking Alpha:

Timothy Barakett’s hedge fund Atticus Capital has filed a 13G on Sotheby’s (BID) disclosing a 5.4% ownership stake in the company. The filing was made due to activity on June 11th, 2009 and the hedge fund now owns 3,584,110 shares.

That puts Atticus in the number three spot of institutional shareholders behind Ariel, the Chicago money management firm, and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital with 9.6% and 6.1% respectively. At $12 for the stock, the forward price-to-earnings ration of the firm is a very steep 45 multiple which suggests SAC and Atticus both expect the business to rebound because they bought recently. That contrasts with Sotheby’s CEO, William Ruprecht, who sold nearly a $1 million stock in early May at $11.

Atticus Discloses Big Stake in Sotheby’s (Seeking Alpha)