Contrarian Fund Sells Apple, Financial institution of America, JPMorgan, and Citigroup Inventory 

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A big contrarian investor made large strikes in its U.S.-traded portfolio within the first quarter.

Hexavest of Montreal bought

Apple

(ticker: AAPL) inventory, and slashed investments in

Financial institution of America

(BAC),

JPMorgan Chase

(JPM), and

Citigroup

(C). Hexavest disclosed the trades, amongst others, in a type it filed with the Securities and Alternate Fee.

Hexavest, which is 49% owned by Eaton Vance, acquired by

Morgan Stanley (MS)

 in March, didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the inventory trades. Hexavest has been seeing its managed property shrink. As of Jan. 31, they stood at $4.3 billion, down 67% from $13 billion the 12 months earlier than, and down 26% from $5.8 billion on Oct. 31, 2020.

The agency bought 83,949 Apple shares within the first quarter, ending March with 504,131 shares of the iPhone maker.

Apple inventory slid 8% within the first quarter, in contrast with a 5.8% rise within the

S&P 500 index.

Since March 31 via Friday’s shut, nonetheless, Apple inventory has surged 9.8%, whereas the index has managed a 5.4% rise.

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We famous in March that one analyst thought Apple inventory lacked catalysts, and that the valuation acquired forward of earnings progress. Different observers fretted that gross sales of AirPods might slip. Final week, nonetheless, one other analyst wrote in a report that Apple is “well-positioned to report upside to March quarter estimates.”

Hexavest bought 1.4 million Financial institution of America shares to finish the primary quarter with 596,714 shares of the banking big.

Financial institution of America inventory soared 27.6% within the first quarter, and has gained 1.1% thus far in April.

Rising rates of interest have benefitted the banking sector typically. CEO
Brian Moynihan
advised Barron’s in an interview in March that Financial institution of America’s earnings will “considerably enhance” from greater charges because the financial institution deploys its giant base of low-cost deposits into higher-yielding loans and different property whereas retaining bills beneath management,

JPMorgan inventory rallied 19.8% within the first quarter, and has been primarily flat in April.

JPMorgan’s final two quarters, reported in January and April, confirmed robust earnings, however shares slipped of their wakes. The primary quarter, the financial institution’s newest, confirmed a file revenue as JPMorgan launched reserves for dangerous loans.

Hexavest bought 294,400 JPMorgan shares within the first quarter to scale back its holdings to 336,497 shares.

The funding agency bought 413,395 Citigroup shares within the quarter, leaving it with 171,808 shares of the financial institution.

Citigroup inventory surged 18.0% within the first quarter, and thus far in April, it has been flat.

Citigroup reported robust fourth-quarter earnings in January, and stated it deliberate to renew inventory buybacks within the first quarter. Final week, the financial institution reported upside first-quarter earnings, and stated it’s shutting down most of its consumer-banking operations in Asia, Europe, and the Center East.

Inside Scoop is a daily Barron’s characteristic protecting inventory transactions by company executives and board members—so-called insiders—in addition to giant shareholders, politicians, and different distinguished figures. Resulting from their insider standing, these traders are required to reveal inventory trades with the Securities and Alternate Fee or different regulatory teams.

Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and observe @BarronsEdLin.