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DuPont Capital, which is crushing the S&P 500, added to investments in AT&T, Bank of America, and Target stock in the second quarter. It also cut back on holdings in American Tower, a cell-tower real estate investment trust.
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
A market-beating investment advisor made some big trades in the second quarter.
DuPont Capital Management bought up AT&T (ticker: T) and Bank of America stock (BAC) in the second quarter, and tripled its investment in Target (TGT). It also reduced holdings in American Tower REIT (AMT), a cell-tower real estate investment trust. DuPont Capital, a unit of Corteva (CTVA), disclosed the trades, among others, in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
DuPont Capital’s Value Creators-U.S. Large Cap strategy is crushing the S&P 500 index, a measure of the broader market. From the strategy’s Jan. 1, 2017, inception through June 30, it has posted an annualized gain of 16.61%, net of fees, compared with the index’s 11.95%. The strategy also topped the S&P 500’s second-quarter rally by two points with a 22.51% return.
DuPont Capital, whose roots go back to 1942 as a pension manager, declined to comment on the trades, noting it was a quiet period for the advisor.
The advisor bought 25,211 AT&T shares in the second quarter, lifting its holdings to 302,667 shares.
AT&T stock hasn’t recovered from losing a quarter of its value in the first quarter; shares of the telecom and media giant remain down 24.3% year to date through Friday’s close.
AT&T reported a lackluster second quarter in July, although the company launched its next-generation 5G wireless network nationwide. Some analysts have worried that AT&T won’t be able to adequately invest due to balance-sheet strains.
Bank of America stock also remains wounded from a first-quarter dive; shares remain down 29.4% year to date.
The bank’s shares slid in mid-July even after Bank of America’s second-quarter earnings topped expectations. Bank of America itself said it is seeing early signs of an economic rebound. Warren Buffett has been buying up the bank’s shares as of late.
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DuPont Capital bought 102,284 more Bank of America shares in the quarter, raising its investment to 1.1 million shares.
The advisor also bought 68,195 Target shares, dramatically increasing its holdings in the retailer to 97,471 shares.
Target stock cratered 28% in the first quarter, but after surging since then, shares are down only 1.8% for the year to date.
In June, Target said it was raising its starting wage for U.S. workers to $15 an hour, a move that was widely expected. Target now requires shoppers to wear masks in its physical stores. The company could win as e-commerce continues to surge, we noted.
American Tower stock slipped only 5% in the first quarter, and now its year-to-date gain stands at 13.7%.
We noted bullishness on Wall Street in May for the shares, even though they weren’t cheap. A fund manager with a big investment in American Tower stock told us the company is in a “pretty recession-proof” business.
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.