Tech, financials most held by large-cap strategies – eVestment report

Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet retained their dominance in long-only equity strategy portfolios, eVestment's first-quarter review showed.

While the number of strategies that held Apple Inc. declined slightly and the number of those that held Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. increased, the composition and order of the list did not change in the 12 months ended March 31. Across the 20 most frequently owned companies, Visa rose to seventh place from 17th; and Mastercard and Oracle joined the group in the first quarter while Citigroup and Wells Fargo fell out of the top 20.

The review looked at the holdings over the 12 months ended March 31 of more than 6,900 long-only equity strategies.

The financial services and technology sectors were the most broadly held sectors by U.S. large-cap core strategies, increasing their grip by 1.3 and 1.8 percentage points since the first quarter of 2017, respectively. Exposure to the consumer staples sector was reduced by 1.5 percentage points. General Electric Co. was the most commonly exited position.

Small-cap core strategies reduced their exposure to financials by 1.4 percentage points over the trailing 12-month period, while increasing durables exposure by 1.2 percentage points. The consumer sector saw the most selling pressure from small-cap managers.

Among the emerging market strategies in the study, China was the most common regional exposure. The average exposure changed by 2.5 percentage points in the 12 months ended March 31. South Korea was the next most common exposure, and saw the average allocation drop by 0.6 percentage points over the same period.