Hexavest of Montreal sold nearly all its Walmart stake in the second quarter. The $10 billion manager also reduced stakes in Merck and Pfizer, while buying more Eli Lilly stock.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty ImagesA large investor that embraces contrarianism has made big changes in its U.S.-traded investments, including shares in large pharmaceutical companies in the second quarter.
Hexavest of Montreal, which manages nearly $10 billion in assets, sold nearly all its Walmart stock (ticker: WMT), and slashed positions in Merck (MRK) and Pfizer stock (PFE) in the quarter. It also bought more Eli Lilly stock (LLY). Hexavest disclosed the trades, among others, in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Hexavest, which is 49% owned by Eaton Vance (EV), didn’t respond to a request for comment on the stock trades.
The firm sold 596,043 Walmart shares in the second quarter, reducing its stake in the retailing giant to only 29,260 shares.
Walmart stock was about flat for the year at the end of the second quarter, but shares have rallied 10% so far in July through Friday’s close, more than double the 4% rise in the S&P 500 index, a broad measure of the market.
Walmart shares surged recently on optimism that its subscription service, which is similar to Amazon.com (AMZN) Prime, will do well as the coronavirus pandemic continues. Speaking of which, the retailer was the first major chain to require all shoppers to wear masks in its locations.
Hexavest sold 250,709 Merck shares in the quarter to cut its holdings to 689,105 shares of the drug giant.
Merck stock has recovered slightly from a 15.4% dive in the first quarter, but the year-to-date drop now stands at 12.2%.
In June, we named Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier one of the top CEOs of this year, citing his move to put his company’s financial might and research expertise behind a promising trio of Covid-19 drug programs. Merck is also winning Food and Drug Administration priority reviews for other treatments.
Hexavest sold 609,267 shares of Pfizer in the second quarter to end the period with 1,623,780 shares.
Editor's Choice
Like Merck stock, Pfizer shares are in the red for the year to date, down 7.5%, after a first-quarter plunge.
Pfizer stock got a lift earlier this month when the FDA fast-tracked a Covid-19 vaccine the drug giant is co-developing. Recently, the company has been releasing positive data on the vaccine.
The money manager also bought 54,450 Eli Lilly shares to end the second quarter with 424,290 shares.
Unlike its peers, Eli Lilly stock sports a year-to-date gain of 26.3%. Shares haven’t had a down quarter yet in 2020, and the stock is up 1.1% so far in July.
An Eli Lilly cancer treatment recently succeeded in a clinical trial where a Pfizer candidate had failed. Lilly has been testing its arthritis drug Olumiant as a potential coronavirus treatment.
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.
"sold" - Google News
July 20, 2020 at 06:00PM
https://ift.tt/32CjC5a
A Big Contrarian Investor Sold Walmart, Merck and Pfizer Stock. Here’s What It Bought. - Barron's
"sold" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3d9iyrC
https://ift.tt/3b37xGF
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "A Big Contrarian Investor Sold Walmart, Merck and Pfizer Stock. Here’s What It Bought. - Barron's"
Post a Comment