Bridgewater Associates Plunge Into ETFs

Renowned hedge fund manager Ray Dalio added more ETFs to his portfolio in the third quarter as his fund extends exposure to the emerging markets. Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund with US$130 billion assets under management, invested an additional US$640 million in two emerging markets ETFs on top of existing stakes: namely – Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) (+10,479,574 shares) and the iShares MSCI Emerging Market ETF (EEM) (+1,576,092 shares). Together with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) (+145,700 shares), the ETFs make up the top three additions that Ray Dalio added to his fund in the third quarter by market value.

Contrary to value managers which tend to maintain most of its positions from quarter to quarter, the global-macro minded fund has a very volatile capital allocation and portfolio management process. In the third quarter, Bridgewater added 94 new positions worth US$282 million and exited out of 51 positions worth US$264 million.

Amongst its largest additions in the latest quarter include: Berkshire Hathaway Class B (BRK.B) (+238,397 shares), BCE Inc (BCE) (+436,937 shares), Microchip Technology Inc (MCHP) (+422,376 shares) and Nucor Corp (NUE) (+329,712 shares).

Bridgewater also removed entire stakes in at least: Best Buy (BBY) (-1,237,022 shares), Symantec Corp (SYMC) (-1,709,090 shares, Applied Materials Inc (AMAT) (-1,844,188 shares) and Eaton Corp (ETN) (-393,142 shares).

Lastly, here are the top 10 holdings of Ray Dalio’s hedge fund by market value:

 

1. SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY, Earnings, Analysts, Financials): The Trust corresponds to the price and yield performance of the S&P 500 Index.

Added 145,700 shares in the third quarter to a total holding of 18,265,000 shares

 

2. Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets (VWO, Earnings, Analysts, Financials):  The Fund’s investment objective seeks to track the performance of an index that measures the investment return of stocks issued by companies located in emerging market countries.

Added 10,479,574 shares in the third quarter to a total holding of 49,279,896 shares

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