In what can be viewed as further proof that institutions and
professional money managers are increasing their use of
exchange-traded products, Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates now
holds massive stakes in at least five
ETFs
. In fact, ETFs comprise the four largest positions at
Bridgewater and six of the hedge fund's top-10 holdings,
according to recent data.
During the third quarter, Bridgewater, the world's largest
hedge fund with $130 billion in assets under management, added
nearly 146,000 shares to its position in the SPDR S&P 500
(NYSE:
SPY
). The firm now held over 18.2 million shares of SPY, the world's
largest ETF by assets,
at the end of the third quarter
. The firm also held a small stake in the iShares Core S&P
500 (NYSE:
IVV
) at the end of the quarter. No changes were made to that
position.
When it comes to emerging markets, Dalio's view appears mixed.
Bridgewater boosted its stake in the Vanguard MSCI Emerging
Markets ETF by nearly 10.5 million shares during the third
quarter to take the firm's interest in the largest emerging
markets ETF to almost 49.3 million shares. The firm also added
1.6 million shares of VWO's primary rival, the iShares MSCI
Emerging Markets Index Fund (NYSE:
EEM
),
according to Tickerspy data
. Bridgewater held more than 33 million shares of EEM, the
second-largest emerging markets ETF by assets, at the end of the
third quarter.
However, Bridgewater pared its stake in the iShares MSCI
Brazil Index Fund (NYSE:
EWZ
) by nearly 850,000 shares. The firm owned over1.15 million
shares of EWZ at the end of Q3. Bridgewater initiated its EWZ
position
in the second quarter
and there is a chance Bridgewater has taken some losses on the
trade.
EWZ, the largest ETF tracking Latin America's largest economy,
has struggled this year and is the worst-performing of the four
major ETFs tracking the BRIC nations. In order for Bridgewater to
have avoided losses on EWZ, it would have had to pare its stake
in mid-August or in mid-September. Those are the only dates
during the quarter when EWZ spent any significant stretch of time
trading around or above $56. EWZ is Bridgewater's fourth-largest
position after SPY, VWO and EEM.
In what could be viewed as a modest yield grab, Bridgewater
added over 17,000 shares of the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade
Corporate Bond Fund (NYSE:
LQD
) during Q3. At the end of that quarter, the hedge fund owned
almost 357,000 shares of the ETF, making it the firm's
sixth-largest position.
The iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond Fund has
over $25.5 billion in assets, making it by far the largest ETF
offering exposure to high-grade corporate bonds. With an
effective duration of 7.74 years, LQD has a 30-day SEC yield of
2.75 percent,
according to iShares data
.
For more on ETFs, click
here
.
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