The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently released its latest 13F report, and multiple institutions officially released their holdings in US stocks in the fourth quarter of last year.
Based on publicly available holdings, almost everyone on Wall Street is buying into seven tech giants - Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla. It is currently the most crowded trade to long the "seven sisters" of American stock technology. In addition, weight loss pills have become a new favorite of a group of hedge funds, and some well-known alternative investment hedge funds have also focused on Chinese concept stocks and consumer stocks.
Specifically, the significant reduction in holdings of Apple by the "stock god" Buffett has attracted attention, while Bridgewater has significantly increased its holdings in NVIDIA and Lilly. The prototype of "Big Short" and Canada's largest pension fund have increased their holdings in JD.com and Alibaba, among others. These new actions by these giants have attracted high market attention.
"The Seven sisters of American Stock Market" is still the favorite
Looking at it, institutions such as FMR, Northern Trust, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Franklin Resources, and others with billions of dollars in 13F positions, all prioritize stocks such as Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, and Alphabet.
For example, the 13F holdings report disclosed by Fidelity Management and Research (FMR) for the fourth quarter of last year showed that the total market value of the institution's stock holdings at the end of the fourth quarter was $1182.578 billion. The top five heavyweight stocks ranked by market value ratio are Microsoft (6.96%), Apple INC (4.88%), Nvidia (4.37%), Amazon (4.06%), and Google A-class stocks (2.68%).
According to the 13F holdings report disclosed by Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter of last year, the total market value of the institution's stock holdings at the end of the fourth quarter was $2010.67 billion, an increase of 6.00% quarter on quarter. The top 5 heavyweight stocks ranked by market value ratio are Microsoft (4.74%), Amazon (2.5%), Apple INC (2.09%), Nvidia (1.96%), and Google A-class stocks (1.61%).
It is well known that large institutions hold these stocks. According to the latest monthly survey of global fund managers by Bank of America, almost everyone on Wall Street is buying the "seven sisters" and seven technology giants. More than 60% of global fund managers believe that going long on seven tech giants is currently the most crowded trade. The proportion of fund managers who hold this view far exceeds the previous two surveys conducted in December last year and January this year.
Since last year, under the upsurge of AI concept speculation, technology stocks, especially the "Seven sisters", have risen like a rainbow, strongly supporting the further rise of US stocks. According to data, the "seven sisters" will contribute two-thirds of the increase of the S&P 500 index in 2023. By January 2024, the seven major technology stocks contributed 45% of the return on the S&P 500 index, with a combined market value of $12.5 trillion by early February.
As the biggest beneficiary of the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), Nvidia can be regarded as the most dazzling listed company in over a year. Its stock price surged by 239% last year, and the frenzy continues. So far this year, it has risen by nearly 50%, continuously breaking new historical highs in stock price, with a market value of $1.81 trillion, surpassing e-commerce giant Amazon. Among the billionaires on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, their net asset value increased by $124 billion this year due to holding AI concept stocks, accounting for 96% of the total new wealth this year.
Buffett starts reducing his holdings in Apple shares
Even when Wall Street still favored the "Seven sisters", Berkshire Hathaway, who was run by Warren Buffett, had quietly started to withdraw.
According to the latest 13F report submitted by Berkshire Hathaway to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Buffett has started reducing his holdings in Apple.
Berkshire Hathaway reduced its holdings of 10 million shares of Apple, approximately 1% of Apple's stock, and increased its holdings of 16 million shares of Chevron in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Currently, among Berkshire Hathaway's top five major holdings, Apple (AAPL. US) still ranks first with approximately 906 million shares and a market value of approximately $174.3 billion, accounting for 50.19% of the investment portfolio. The number of holdings has decreased by 1.09% compared to the previous quarter.
Weight loss pharmaceutical stocks become new stars
Since this year, with the decline of Tesla's share price, and boosted by the strong demand for "the elixir for weight loss" and breakthroughs in fatty liver related research, pharmaceutical giant Lilly has the potential to replace Tesla and become one of the "seven sisters". In fact, this situation can also be seen in the holdings in the fourth quarter of last year.
In the fourth quarter of last year, well-known hedge fund Jinqiao Water increased its holdings by 260 targets, added 87 new targets, reduced its holdings by 385 targets, and cleared 85 targets. In terms of overweight operations, the top five buying stocks of Bridgewater are Lilly, NVIDIA, Brazil ETF iShares, Visa, and Forward Insurance. Among them, the positions of Lilly and Nvidia have both increased by more than four times.
Although Lilly's growth rate is not as impressive as Nvidia's, with the launch of the new weight loss miracle drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro, the company rose nearly 61% last year and about 30% so far this year, with a market value of over $715 billion, making it the world's most valuable medical company.
The top five selling stocks of Qiushui in the fourth quarter were Pepsi Cola, Procter&Gamble, Coca Cola, SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF and Wal Mart, all of which ranked among the top ten heavy position stocks of Qiushui.
Alibaba gains "big bears" to increase holdings to the top heavy position
Chinese concept stocks remain an important direction for US institutional holdings. According to a report submitted by Scion Asset Management LLC, a hedge fund under "big bear" Michael Burry, the company further increased its holdings in Alibaba and JD.com in the fourth quarter of last year.
The report shows that Scion Asset Management Company increased its holdings of 25000 shares in Alibaba to 75000 shares in the fourth quarter of last year, with a market value of 5.81 million US dollars; Increase holdings of 75000 shares in JD.com to 200000 shares, with a market value of 5.78 million US dollars. As of the end of the fourth quarter, Alibaba had the largest position disclosed by Scion, accounting for 6.1% of its assets, followed closely by JD.com.
Coincidentally, another 13F document disclosed on the same day showed that Alibaba became a new target for CPPIB, Canada's largest pension fund, to buy in the fourth quarter of last year. The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) acquired 3.6 million shares of Alibaba in the fourth quarter ending December 31 last year, with a market value of $279 million.
In the fourth quarter, CPPIB also purchased 1.7 million shares of Ideal Automobile with a market value of 63.6 million US dollars; Newly purchased 1.33 million shares of JD.com with a market value of 38.3 million US dollars; Newly purchased 291000 shares of NetEase with a market value of 27.1 million US dollars.
In the fourth quarter of last year, Alibaba's stock price fell by about 9.6%, while JD's cumulative decline was less than 1%. On Wednesday, Alibaba's stock price rose 2.5%, while JD.com rose over 4.5%, both performing better than the US stock market. According to the changes in holdings of Chinese concept stocks by some large institutions in the fourth quarter of last year, NIO had the largest month on month growth, while Pinduoduo had the largest increase in market value.