Text size
Aurora Cannabis chocolate and other edible products.
David Kawai / Bloomberg
A major pensioner recently made major changes to its U.S.-traded investments.
British Columbia Investment Management raised its investment in marijuana stocks
Aurora Cannabis
(ticker: ACB), and bought more
Mastercard
(MA) stock while cutting positions in
Visa
(V) and
Shopify
(SHOP) shares in the fourth quarter. The manager of the Canadian province’s public funds revealed the trades in, among other places a form, the archived with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
BCI, as the pension is known, declined to comment on the investment changes. It’s fine $ 135 billion in assets.
BCI bought 232,058 additional shares in Aurora Cannabis at the end of 2020 with 290,404 shares.
The Aurora Cannabis stock cratered 68% in 2020, but so far in 2021 it has increased by 50.2%. In contrast
S&P 500 index,
a target for the wider market rose 16.3% last year and rose so far by 4.8% in 2021.
Earlier this month, three Democratic senators led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said they would make marijuana reform legislation a key priority, sends the sector soaring. Reddit bulletin board users have focused on marijuana sector for trade, increases volatility. Speaking of volatility, the Aurora Cannabis stock fell almost 14% on Friday alone disappointing results.
The pension also bought 73,385 additional shares in Mastercard to end the year with 566,125 shares in the card giant.
Mastercard shares rose 19.5% in 2020 and have fallen 4.5% so far this year.
Early in the year received Mastercard two upgrades based on the idea that shares were a game on the resumption of cross-border travel. In late January, Barrons noted that earnings from Mastercard and Visa gave reason to hope for a financial recovery. Last week, Mastercard said it would supports cryptocurrencies.
The Visa share rose by 16.4% in 2020, but so far this year it has fallen 4.0%.
Visa in January had to scrap an agreement it had done to buy payment technology company Plaid. Visa went on to reach a pact with fintech TransferWise expand its payment card operations. When it reported earnings in late January, Visa announced a new one $ 8 billion share buyback program.
BCI sold 192,891 Visa shares in the fourth quarter to end the year with 159,593 shares.
The pension sold 63,468 Shopify shares to the end of 2020 with 261,163 shares from the e-commerce software provider.
The Shopify share nearly tripled in value last year. So far in 2021, equities have risen by 28.6%.
Analysts suggested purchase of Shopify shares shortly after the start of the new year. A partnership with
Walmart
(WMT) has been shown to be beneficial to both parties. Shopify was recently added to
Facebook
(FB) and Instagram stores.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature that covers stock transactions from company executives and board members – so-called insiders – as well as major shareholders, politicians and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trading with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin on [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.
