By Matt Hogan
Ray Dalio’s firm just released its quarterly 13F filing with the SEC on February 13th. With the value of listed holdings down 18.4%, here’s what the billionaire hedge fund manager has been up to.
RAY DALIO’S PRINCIPLES
Many investors are well aware of the investing prowess of Ray Dalio. He’s the billionaire investor, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist that founded one of the largest hedge funds on Wall Street. Dalio’s also widely known for his 123-page manifesto (Principles) where he gives readers a glimpse into his philosophies about living life and managing people and organizations. In the text’s abstract he explains:
“Truth, more precisely an accurate understanding of reality is the essential foundation for producing good results.”
Principles is a required read for all Bridgewater employees which hints at how crucial these guidelines are to the firm’s investing strategy and resulting performance. Dalio released an expanded and revised edition of the manifesto on September 19th. The market has welcomed the new book which currently ranks #6 on Amazon’s most read books.
But has Dalio’s time commitment to publishing taken a toll on his fund’s performance? I review Bridgewater’s portfolio below.
BRIDGEWATER’S LARGEST HOLDINGS
On February 13th, Ray Dalio’s firm Bridgewater filed its quarterly Form 13F regulatory filing. I reviewed the filing to gain a glimpse into the firm’s large portfolio.
Bridgewater’s stock portfolio totals $12.2 billion according to the latest filing. The list value of stock holdings is down -18.4% when compared to the last quarter. As a benchmark, the S&P 500 was up 6.1% over the same period. So it appears Dalio underperformed the market by 24.5% based on what we can tell from the 13F filing.
The Ideas section of finbox.io tracks top investors and trending investment themes. You can get the latest data on the holdings discussed below at the Ray Dalio page. The following table summarizes the firm’s largest holdings reported in the last filing:
Bridgewater Largest Holdings
Ticker Name Holding ($mil) % Of Portfolio
VWO VANGUARD INTL EQUITY INDEX F $3,166.1 26.0%
SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF TR $2,526.2 20.8%
EEM ISHARES TR $1,536.9 12.6%
IEMG ISHARES INC $885.0 7.3%
GLD SPDR GOLD TRUST $483.3 4.0%
EWZ ISHARES INC $312.6 2.6%
LQD ISHARES TR $300.8 2.5%
The seven positions above represent 75.7% of the fund’s total portfolio. In addition, Bridgewater’s largest holdings are in ETFs which is somewhat surprising for a hedge fund that requires healthy management fees.
BRIDGEWATER’S 7 LARGEST PURCHASES
I also used finbox.io to find Bridgewater’s largest buys last quarter. Here’s the list of the biggest purchases determined by comparing the last two filings:
Bridgewater 7 Largest Purchases
Ticker Name Purchased ($mil) % Of Portfolio
PCG PG&E CORP $38.0 0.3%
EWZ ISHARES INC $37.4 2.6%
CVS CVS HEALTH CORP $30.5 0.3%
CAH CARDINAL HEALTH INC $29.1 0.2%
CELG CELGENE CORP $21.4 0.2%
PPL PPL CORP $20.9 0.2%
WBA WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE INC $20.6 0.2%
The largest purchase for the quarter was PG&E Corporation. Bridgewater increased its position in the company by $38.0 million and the stock now represents 0.3% of the firm’s portfolio.
BRIDGEWATER’S 7 BIGGEST SELLS
Here’s the list of biggest position reductions determined by comparing the last two filings:
Bridgewater 7 Biggest Sells
Ticker Name Sold ($mil) % Of Portfolio