Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Mid Cap Fund” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The final quarter of 2023 saw a continuous fluctuation between recessionary fears and soft-landing optimism. In the fourth quarter, the fund’s Investor Class fund ARTMX returned 8.86%, Advisor Class fund APDMX posted a return of 8.93%, and Institutional Class fund APHMX returned 8.96%, compared to a 14.55% return for the Russell Midcap Growth Index. The portfolio generated a positive absolute return in Q4 but underperformed the Russell Midcap Growth Index due to poor security selection, particularly in health care and information technology. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Artisan Mid Cap Fund featured stocks like Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia, Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) designs, manufactures, and services engineered products and solutions that operates through Water Infrastructure, Applied Water, Measurement & Control Solutions, and Integrated Solutions and Services segments. On March 6, 2024, Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) stock closed at $126.35 per share. One-month return of Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) was 3.24%, and its shares gained 25.75% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) has a market capitalization of $30.548 billion.
Artisan Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“We initiated new GardenSM positions in Equifax, Celsius and Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) during the quarter. Xylem is a global leader in water technology across pumps, smart meters and treatment services. More than 80% of the company’s sales come from markets where it maintains the No. 1 or No. 2 market position. Xylem’s pumps business (selling primarily to utilities) is a sticky and profitable operation that provides capital to invest in more innovative solutions, such as smart meters. In mid-2023, Xylem completed the acquisition of Evoqua, giving it a leading position in the US water treatment business. We believe the company is at the start of a compelling profit cycle. Smart meter sales are recovering from supply chain issues, cost and revenue synergies from the acquisition are in the early innings, and a newly hired (and well-respected) CFO should help catalyze long-awaited margin expansion. Meanwhile, rising demand for solutions to water sustainability challenges should persist as a strong trend for years to come.”
A close up of a pump system, its gears spinning as it powers up a water management system.
Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) was held by 32 hedge fund portfolios, down from 40 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We discussed Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) in another article and shared the list of best water stocks to buy. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
