Pershing Square's William Ackman is well known on Wall Street for being an agitator for change. His controversial views on bond insurers made him billions on the short-side while a recent well-timed bet on Longs Drug Stores (NYSE: LDG) netting him several hundred million in mere weeks. Earlier this week, Pershing Square reported its most recent holdings in a Schedule 13F-HR filing with the SEC, which details each of its holdings.

Ackman's largest purchase was in Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS) in which he acquired over 21 million shares at an average price of $24.70 per share. The activist investor also nearly doubled his stake in the troubled Wendy's (NYSE: WEN) restaurant chain at an average price of $27.10 per share. And finally, many investors are now well aware of Ackman's well-timed purchase of Longs Drug Stores at an average price of $43.50 just weeks before its acquisition by CVS was announced.

Ackman also reduced his holdings in Cadbury Plc and Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT), but still holds a total of nine stocks with a total value of $2.4 billion through his Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund and has returned over 30% annually. The hedge fund currently holds, among other things, Barnes and Noble, Sears Holdings Corp, Borders Group, and a short position in MBIA Inc. Investors looking to piggy-back on this legendary investor may want to consider purchasing some of his recent holdings like Wendy's or Dr Pepper.

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The Security and Exchange Commission has used one tool to help investors find SEC filings since the 1980s. Its name was EDGAR and it was considered by many to be crude and difficult to use. The SEC announced on Tuesday that it would be introducing a new system, dubbed IDEA, to replace EDGAR as a tool to help investors find the information they need from regulatory filings.

IDEA will supplement EDGAR to start and eventually replace it altogether. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said at a press conference that the new system will give investors faster and easier access to key financial information about public companies and mutual funds. Unlike EDGAR, IDEA will use data-tagging software to sort financial data.

“This is not just a new name for EDGAR, this is a fundamental change in the way the SEC collects, manages and distributes information,” Mr. Cox told a news conference on Tuesday. Mr. Cox has been well known for embracing new technologies in an attempt to update the SEC's databases and make them more accessible for investors.

The move comes after the SEC's push for public companies to begin reporting under the so-called extensible business reporting language, or XBRL, protocol. This protocol uses digital tags attached to each piece of financial data to allow investors to easily find and compare key figures. The largest public companies may be forced to file in XBRL in early 2009, according to the SEC.

IDEA will be provided free of charge to the public, like EDGAR, and is expected to be available starting later htis year. Meanwhile, the SEC said that EDAR filings will continue for the indefinite future.

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) shares fell despite announcing higher-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Earnings for the quarter came in at $0.82 per share on $15.47 billion in revenues, while its retail segment rose 5.7 percent. The catalyst behind the decline is likely the continued talk of a weak and soft sales environment. Moreover, investors were less than comforted with a drop in gross margins and a fall in the profitability of its credit card operations.

Target's net income fell on lower clothing and home goods sales as the government rebate checks begin to wane. The retailer fell behind Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) once again as consumers continue to see bargains. Customers that are struggling with higher food and fuel prices, rising joblessness and the worse housing market since the Great Depression are quickly switching their spending from high-class Target stores to discount Wal-Mart stores.

Target may be a good bet over the long-term as the U.S. economy recovers, but until then, Wal-Mart may continue to be the smart bet on retailing. Wal-Mart, Costco, Sam's Club, and various dollar stores have all posted higher than expected sales as consumers rush to spend rebates at their stores. Meanwhile, Target and other higher class retailers are experiencing problems. Shares of Target dropped $0.22, or 0.44%, to $49.82 during today's trading session.

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