A large fund sold Apple and Tesla Stock. This is what he bought.

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Recently, one of the largest public pensions in the U.S. made some major adjustments in its equity investments.

Ohio’s state teacher retirement system reduced investment in

apple

(ticker: AAPL) i

Tesla

(TSLA) in the third quarter and bought more shares of

General Motors

(GM) i

Participation of the Alibaba group

(BABA). STRS Ohio, as the pension is known, disclosed the transactions, among other things, in a form it submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

STRS Ohio, which was managing $ 80.9 billion in assets as of June 30, did not respond to a request for comment on stock exchange transactions.

The pension sold 864,478 shares of Apple after splitting in the third quarter to reduce its position in the iPhone maker to 9.8 million shares as of Sept. 30. Shares of Apple split 4 for 1 in late August.

Shares of Apple have risen 80% so far as of Thursday’s close, including a 14% gain so far in the fourth quarter. In comparison, the

S&P 500 Index,

a broader market measure, it has risen 14.6% so far, including 10.1% so far in the fourth quarter.

Apple has rejected a recent report that says demand for its 5G iPhones has been stronger than expected, and one analyst sees stocks continuing to rise in 2021. It is speculated that Apple is actively developing a car, but we are skeptical about the company raiding electric vehicles. Still, we’re optimized in terms of stocks and Apple is one of our top 10 stock selections for next year.

STRS Ohio sold 41,987 shares of Tesla after the split to end September with 316,583 shares of electric vehicle maker. Shares of Tesla split 5 by 1 in late August.

Tesla’s share price has soared close to 700% in 2020, including a 54.3% increase in the fourth quarter alone.

Tesla joined the S&P 500 earlier this month, the most valuable company ever to be added to the index. Barry Ritholtz, President and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, told us recently: “Tesla has already changed the paradigm. They have already won.

GM shares have added 13.6% in 2020, including a 40.5% increase since the end of September.

GM last month reduced a deal with

Nikola

(NKLA), a manufacturer of trucks powered by alternative fuels. We have suggested that GM shares could continue to rise in 2021 due to profit growth as the economy recovers. GM could even resume paying a dividend next year.

STRS Ohio bought an additional 750,442 GM shares in the third quarter, raising its investment to 2.8 million shares of the car giant.

The pension bought 46,700 U.S. deposit receipts from Alibaba during the quarter, which ended in September with 205,434 ADRs from Chinese internet giant.

Alibaba’s ADRs have gained 4.7% so far, including a 24.5% drop so far in the fourth quarter.

Alibaba and its partners have been pressured by Chinese regulators for their business practices. In addition, Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma has faced a backlash in China. The possibility of withdrawing ADRs in the US may also be considered

Inside Scoop is a common feature of Barron that covers the stock transactions of corporate executives and board members — the so-called privileged — as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their privileged reporting status, these investors are required to disclose securities transactions with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups..

Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.