Largest US Pension Fund Sold FAANG Stocks In Q1: Which Chip Stock Did It Buy Instead?

The largest pension fund in the U.S. reduced its FAANG holdings in the first quarter amid the tech rout at the start of the year, the 13-F filed with the SEC late Wednesday revealed.

FAANG Loses Favor: The California Public Employees' Retirement System, aka CalPERS, sold shares in all FAANG names in the first quarter, with the percentage of cutbacks ranging from about 6% to 24%.

CalPERS may have chosen to be proactive with respect to its stance on streaming giant Netflix Inc NFLX, which sounded out a slowdown in net paid adds on its earnings call in late January. At the end of the first quarter, the fund held about 1.174 million Netflix shares, down 34% from its holdings at the end of the fourth quarter.

CalPERS sold 14.4% of its Meta Platforms Inc FB stake and held about 4.668 million shares at the end of the quarter. At the end of the first quarter, Alphabet, Inc. GOOGL GOOG  held 1.29 million, comprising both Class A and Class C shares, down 6.3% from the end of the fourth quarter.

The fund disposed of about 7.7% of Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN shares and 6.2% of Apple, Inc. AAPL shares. At the end of the first quarter, CalPERS' holding of these shares stood at 1.03 million and 31.70 million, respectively.

The fund also sold 5.7% of Microsoft Corporation MSFT shares and held 17.35 million shares at the end of the quarter.

Related Link: Apple Analyst Warns Of 'Considerable Risk' For Tech Sector In Coming Months

AMD Over Intel: CalPERS bulked up on Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD shares, adding 25.4% more shares in the quarter to 3.28 million.

Incidentally, AMD shares came under significant selling pressure in the first quarter amid the tech sell-off. It underperformed the broader technology sector despite the company's fundamentals remaining on a firmer foundation. The sell-off was blamed on fears of a semiconductor cycle correction and the risks posed by geopolitical tensions.

CalPERS did liquidate 6.4% of its Intel Corporation INTC holdings during the first quarter. It held about 9.4 million Intel shares at the end of the quarter.

The Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 QQQ, considered a proxy for big tech companies, has shed about 17% in the year-to-date period.

On Thursday afternoon at publication, the ETF was seen slipping 4.78% to $314.15, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo: Brandon Starr via Flickr Creative Commons