Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Value Income Fund” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In Q1, US equities markets surged to new all-time highs, supported by a robust US economy. The fund’s Investor Class APFWX, Advisor Class APDWX, and Institutional Class APHWX returned 4.87%, 4.87%, and 4.98% respectively, in the quarter compared to a 10.56% return for the S&P 500 Index. The portfolio delivered a good total return in Q1 comprised of premium income and substantial capital appreciation, in line with the firm’s total return expectations. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the strategy to know its best picks in 2024.
Artisan Value Income Fund highlighted stocks like Corebridge Financial, Inc. (NYSE:CRBG), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Corebridge Financial, Inc. (NYSE:CRBG) offers retirement solutions and insurance products. Corebridge Financial, Inc.’s (NYSE:CRBG) one-month return was -2.35%, and its shares gained 74.90% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 5, 2024, Corebridge Financial, Inc. (NYSE:CRBG) stock closed at $29.54 per share with a market capitalization of $17.973 billion.
Artisan Value Income Fund stated the following regarding Corebridge Financial, Inc. (NYSE:CRBG) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Our top contributors were nVent Electric, Corebridge Financial, Inc. (NYSE:CRBG) and Lamar Advertising. Corebridge, a life insurance and retirement solutions company, was previously a unit of AIG and a September 2022 IPO. AIG still owns ~51% of the company following its recent secondary sale in November 2023, equaling 9.1% of shares outstanding. Since adding Corebridge to the portfolio in Q1 2023, it’s been among our top performers as the “higher for longer” interest rate environment has driven an increase in spread income. Our investment thesis has been that Corebridge would benefit from the current interest rate environment following ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) and would also have plenty of room to improve its competitive position and wring out efficiencies to improve ROE now that it is a standalone entity that is no longer part of a large inefficient and capital-constrained parent. Even after recent stock price gains, Corebridge yields 3.2% on its dividend, with a double-digit free cash flow yield. In addition to Corebridge’s regular dividend, the company paid two special dividends in 2023 totaling $1.78, which is 7.6% on the March quarter-ending stock price. Besides dividends, we expect free cash flow will be used to ensure holding company liquidity, retire diluted shares and support modest growth expectations.”
A close-up of a person’s hands counting a stack of coins, illustrating the importance of retirement solutions.
Corebridge Financial, Inc. (NYSE:CRBG) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 29 hedge fund portfolios held Corebridge Financial, Inc. (NYSE:CRBG) at the end of the first quarter which was 39 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Corebridge Financial, Inc. (NYSE:CRBG) 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.
In another article, we discussed Corebridge Financial, Inc. (NYSE:CRBG) and shared the list of unstoppable stocks that will make you richer. 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.
