Bridgewater Associates sharply cut its Apple holdings by over 70% in the second quarter, reduced its Nvidia holdings, and increased its positions in Amazon and Microsoft
In the second quarter, Bridgewater reduced its holdings in Apple by 1.37 million shares, with a market value of nearly USD 290 million, marking the largest reduction. It also reduced its holdings in Eli Lilly by over 180,000 shares, with a market value of nearly USD 170 million. Google, which had nearly 830,000 shares reduced, became the third largest holding, while Nvidia, the fourth largest holding, had nearly 490,000 shares reduced. Pinduoduo saw a reduction of nearly 290,000 shares, with its holdings decreasing by nearly 19%. On the other hand, there was an increase in holdings for Amazon by nearly 1.6 million shares, with a staggering 152% increase, making it the sixth largest holding. Microsoft, the seventh largest holding, saw an increase of 510,000 shares, with an 88% increase, and also increased its holdings in Broadcom and AMD
The world's largest hedge fund Bridgewater Associates made significant adjustments to its holdings in US tech giants in the second quarter, following in the footsteps of "Stock God" Buffett by drastically reducing its stake in Apple, while significantly increasing its holdings in Amazon and Microsoft. During the quarter, it reduced its holdings in AI chip giant NVIDIA, but at the same time increased its holdings in another popular AI concept stock, Broadcom.
On Wednesday, August 14th, Eastern Time, Bridgewater submitted its 13F filing to US regulators, revealing that Apple was the stock that Bridgewater reduced its holdings in the most during the second quarter of this year, both in terms of the market value of the reduced shares and the percentage change in the portfolio compared to the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Bridgewater reduced its Apple (AAPL) holdings by approximately 1.373 million shares, with a market value of around $289 million. The number of shares held decreased sharply by 74.5%, with holdings reduced to 469,000 shares, and the percentage in the portfolio dropped from 1.6% to 0.52%, ranking 38th in holdings. Also in the second quarter, Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway slashed its Apple holdings by nearly 50%, reducing nearly 39 million shares worth $82 billion.
In terms of the market value of reduced shares, Eli Lilly, the maker of the popular weight-loss drug Tirzepatide, was the second largest stock that Bridgewater reduced its holdings in after Apple. In the second quarter, Bridgewater reduced its holdings in Eli Lilly by nearly 185,000 shares, with a market value of around $167 million. The number of shares held decreased by 65.9%, ranking 44th in holdings.
The third largest reduced holding by Bridgewater was Google's parent company Alphabet (GOOG), selling nearly 829,000 shares with a market value of around $151 million. The number of shares held decreased by 15.4%, ranking third in holdings. Following closely behind was cable TV, broadband, and IP phone service provider Comcast (CMCSA), which sold approximately 2.27 million shares with a market value of around $88 million. The number of shares held decreased by 56.5%, ranking 51st in holdings.
Procter & Gamble, the fifth largest holding in Bridgewater's portfolio, also saw a significant reduction in holdings in the second quarter, selling nearly 512,000 shares with a market value of around $84.4 million, a decrease of nearly 12.5% in the number of shares held.
NVIDIA, the second largest holding in Bridgewater's portfolio after Alphabet, also saw a reduction in holdings in the second quarter, with a decrease of nearly 490,000 shares, a decrease of nearly 7% compared to the previous quarter. Among Chinese concept stocks, Pinduoduo was the stock that Bridgewater reduced its holdings in the most, selling nearly 290,000 shares in the second quarter, with a decrease of nearly 18.8% in the number of shares held, ranking 21st in holdings.
The 13F filing also showed that Bridgewater significantly increased its holdings in two major stocks, Amazon and Microsoft, in the second quarter. Amazon (AMZN) saw an increase of nearly 1.6 million shares, with a market value of around $309 million, an increase of approximately 152.5% in the number of shares held, while Microsoft (MSFT) saw an increase of approximately 510,000 shares, with a market value of around $228 million, an increase of 88.1% in the number of shares held In terms of reducing shareholding market value, Broadcom (AVGO) ranked third in terms of increased holdings, with a market value of approximately $195 million in the quarter. Bridgewater also increased its holdings of chip stock AMD by 420,000 shares in the second quarter, with a quarter-on-quarter increase of nearly 62% in the number of shares held. Energy giant Exxon Mobil (XOM) saw an increase of nearly 790,000 shares in the second quarter, with a market value of approximately $90.9 million, representing a 521.4% quarter-on-quarter increase in the number of shares held.
As of the end of the second quarter, Bridgewater's total market value of U.S. stock holdings was $19.2 billion, a decrease of $600 million compared to the previous quarter. The top ten holdings in the quarter accounted for over 30% of Bridgewater's investment portfolio, with a concentration ratio of approximately 35.4%.
By the end of the quarter, Bridgewater's largest holding was the fund tracking the U.S. large-cap stock market, iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), with a slight increase of 4,562 shares in the second quarter and a market value of approximately $1.15 billion at the end of the quarter. The second largest holding was the fund tracking emerging market companies, iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG), with a market value close to $1 billion at the end of the quarter.
The third to tenth positions were held by Google, Nvidia, Procter & Gamble, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta (which reduced its holdings by 31,600 shares in the second quarter), Johnson & Johnson, and Walmart (which reduced its holdings by 370,000 shares in the second quarter)