As
Nvidia
stock closed in on a 240% surge for 2023, the world’s largest hedge fund went in big on a bet that the chip maker’s rally still had legs.
Bridgewater Associates quintupled its stake in Nvidia stock in the fourth quarter. It also more than doubled its investment in
General Electric,
scooped up
AT&T
stock, and halved its
Palantir Technologies
holdings. The fund disclosed the stock trades, among others, in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Bridgewater didn’t offer a comment on the stock trades. Founded by
Ray Dalio
in 1975, the hedge fund had assets of $97.2 billion as of June 30, 2023, putting it at the top of the list of the world’s largest by assets, according to Pensions & Investments magazine.
Bridgewater bought 220,381 more Nvidia shares to end the fourth quarter with 268,489 shares of the chip maker.
In 2023, Nvidia stock crushed the
S&P 500 index,
which managed to rise 24%. Shares have surged 59% so far this year, while the index is up 6.7%.
Nvidia reported blowout fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, and its upbeat outlook reassured investors that growth in artificial intelligence is still ramping up. Nvidia’s report lifted shares around the world.
Bridgewater’s Nvidia stake was valued at $133 million at the end of 2023. If it still owns the same number of shares, they’re now worth $212 million.
GE CEO
Larry Culp,
who worked at Bridgewater for a short time in 2015 and headed Danaher, took the top job at the conglomerate in 2018, setting it on course for its current transformation. GE spun off
GE Healthcare Technologies
in January 2023, and will soon split into two companies, one focused on aerospace, and the other on power generation.
Bridgewater bought 211,650 GE shares to end the fourth quarter with 384,161 shares. GE stock doubled in 2023. So far in 2024, shares are up 20%.
The fund bought 1.1 million more AT&T shares in the fourth quarter to lift its investment to 2.9 million shares of the telecom firm.
In December, AT&T agreed to buy up to $14 billion of hardware and services from
Ericsson
after the Swedish equipment supplier pledged to open up its software to competing systems. The deal was a setback for AT&T’s former supplier, Finnish firm
Nokia.
AT&T stock slipped in late January when it reported a lackluster fourth quarter. In the past week, AT&T and its unit Cricket suffered system outages that wouldn’t allow customers to make phone calls.
AT&T stock slipped 9% in 2023. So far this year, shares are about flat.
Palantir stock rocketed 167% in 2023 and has powered ahead with a gain of 34% so far in 2024.
The data-analytics and AI-applications firm has gotten a lift from the Nvidia rally and excitement over AI in general. Palantir was seeing slowing deals from the U.S. government. But it might not matter. CEO
Alex Karp
told The Wall Street Journal that Palantir’s new AI platform “is going to be nearly the complete value of our business.”
Bridgewater sold 183,218 Palantir shares to end the fourth quarter with 165,947.
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.
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