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Norway’s biggest bank, DnB, increased investments in Apple, AT&T, and Gilead stock in the second quarter. It also cut its position in networking firm Cisco Systems.
Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images
DnB, Norway’s biggest bank by assets, made some big changes in its U.S.-traded investments in the second quarter, which was one of the most bullish in decades.
DnB bought more Apple stock (ticker: AAPL), AT&T stock (T), and Gilead Sciences stock (GILD) in the quarter. It also cut its investment in Cisco Systems stock (CSCO). DnB disclosed the transactions, among others, in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
DnB, which managed $8.5 billion in U.S.-traded securities as of June 30, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the stock trades.
The bank bought 114,039 additional Apple shares in the second quarter, raising its investment in the iPhone maker to 638,357 shares at the end of June.
Apple stock crumbled 30% in the first quarter, but wiped out that loss with a 43.5% surge in the second. So far in July through Friday’s close, the shares are up 5.2%, topping the 2.7% rise in the S&P 500 index, a broad measure of the market.
Apple stock extended into record territory last week. Deutsche Bank analyst Jeriel Ong noted “the stock price has overreacted to the positive datapoints over the past 2 months,” but repeated a Buy rating, and raised the price target to $400 from $380.The “potential reward from stock outperformance as skewed positively when compared to the company’s risk profile,” Ong wrote in a report.
DnB bought 24,713 more AT&T shares in the second quarter to end the period with 903,057 shares.
AT&T stock lost a quarter of its value in the first quarter, and it hasn’t recovered much ground since. CEO Randall Stephenson stepped down on July 1. If the company wants to sell its gaming division, we noted that there would be interested buyers.
Gilead stock sports a 17.5% year-to-date gain, although it has slipped about 1% so far in July.
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The biotech is now studying an inhaled version of its Covid-19 antiviral remdesivir in 60 healthy patients for safety and tolerability. We noted that at least one observer thinks Gilead will make a profit on remdesivir this year.
DnB bought 59,282 Gilead shares in the second quarter, raising its investment to 340,274 shares.
DnB also sold 202,220 Cisco shares in the quarter, ending June with 1,530,913 shares of the networking giant.
Cisco stock tumbled 18% in the first quarter, and although it rebounded in the second, shares remain about 2.7% in the red for the year to date.
We noted that with the shares trading at a historical discount to the S&P 500, Morgan Stanley upgraded Cisco stock to Overweight from Equal Weight. Another analyst who upgraded Cisco stock in June noted that the company is a play on next-generation wireless technologies and Wi-Fi.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow @BarronsEdLin.