Provided by Business Insider

Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros has reported a 7.91% passive stake in JCPenney, according to a securities filing with the SEC.

The news sent JCPenney (JCP) shares soaring 7% in after-hours trading Thursday. The stock is currently up $1.08 or 7% a share to $16.32.

Soros Fund Management owns 17,386,361 shares of the retailer, the 13G filing shows.

As The Daily Ticker's Henry Blodget and Aaron Task discuss in the above clip, Soros must have seen some value in the beleaguered retailer. The question is now: should the average investor follow suit?

Earlier this month, JCP said that its CEO Ron Johnson had stepped down effective immediately. JCPenney's former CEO Mike Ullman became the interim chief.

Soros' stake has to be good news for activist investor Bill Ackman.

Ackman, the CEO of $12 billion Pershing Square Capital Management, is the biggest shareholder of JCP with a 18.11% stake, or 39,075,771 shares, according his latest 13F filing. He has taken a bath on the stock so far.

Both Pershing Square and Soros Fund Management are also located in the same building, 888 Seventh Avenue. Did Ackman convince Soros to take a chance on the company? We'll find out.

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