ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, released its first-quarter 2024 “Mid Cap Strategy” investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. Large-cap AI beneficiaries led markets in the first quarter, with the Russell 1000 Index returning 10.30%. Meanwhile, midcaps saw a boost from a wider market, with the Russell Midcap Index gaining 8.60%. The Strategy underperformed its Russell Midcap Index benchmark in the first quarter. The strategy gained across nine of the 11 sectors in which it was invested, on an absolute basis. Industrials and financials sectors were the leading contributors while consumer discretionary and IT sectors detracted. Overall stock selection and sector allocation effects detracted from performance on a relative basis. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy highlighted stocks like The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) offers insurance and financial services to individual and business customers. The one-month return of The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) was 0.72%, and its shares gained 42.95% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 26, 2024, The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) stock closed at $102.24 per share with a market capitalization of $30.025 billion.
ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy stated the following regarding The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Financials were the leading contributor to relative performance during the quarter, despite our being significantly underweight relative to the benchmark. Much of the gains were driven by our insurance holdings The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) and Arch Capital, which have benefited from a harder insurance market and increased pricing power. Hartford has improved its return on equity from low-double digits into the mid-teens through a strong industry pricing environment, rolling over investments at higher returns, and internal improvement efforts. The increase has come with a commensurate increase in earnings and its multiple, reflecting investor appreciation of businesses we have thought undervalued for quite some time. We believe the trajectory of these insurance companies is a strong one and that continued pricing power should help propel their stock prices higher in the face of interest rate cuts and market volatility.”
A young woman signing a disability insurance policy contract in her employer’s office.
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 26 hedge fund portfolios held The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) at the end of the first quarter which was 29 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
We discussed The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) in another article and shared the list of most profitable insurance companies in the world. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2024 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.
