Zhitong Finance App learned that according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosure, Wells Fargo Bank (WFC.US) has submitted a position report (13F) for the first quarter (Q1) ending March 31, 2024.

According to statistics, Wells Fargo's total market value in the first quarter reached 415 billion US dollars, and the total market value in the previous quarter was 383 billion US dollars, an increase of 8.4% over the previous quarter. Wells Fargo added 382 new shares to its portfolio in the first quarter and increased its holdings by 4,133 shares. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo also reduced its holdings by 2,269 stocks and cleared 495 shares. Among them, the top ten holdings account for 19.01% of the total market value.

Among the top five major stocks, Microsoft (MSFT.US) still ranks first, holding about 34.56 million shares and holding positions with a market value of about US$14.54 billion. The number of positions held decreased by 0.70% compared to the previous quarter, accounting for 3.50% of the portfolio.

SPDR S&P 500 ETF put options (SPY.US, PUT) ranked second, holding about 25.92 million shares with a market value of about US$13.56 billion. The number of positions held increased 245% from the previous quarter, accounting for 3.27% of the portfolio.

Apple (AAPL.US) ranked third, holding about 58.47 million shares with a market value of about US$10.03 billion. The number of positions held decreased by 0.61% from the previous quarter, accounting for 2.42% of the portfolio.

The iShares S&P 500 ETF (IVV.US) ranked fourth, holding about 15.8 million shares with a market value of about US$8.31 billion. The number of positions held decreased by 2.40% from the previous quarter, accounting for 2% of the portfolio.

The Vanguard mid-cap ETF (VO.US) ranked fifth, holding about 23.6 million shares and holding positions with a market value of about US$5.9 billion. The number of positions held increased by 0.33% compared to the previous quarter, accounting for 1.42% of the portfolio.

It is worth noting that Wells Fargo was generally bearish on the S&P 500 index in the first quarter: it drastically reduced its position in the S&P 500 index, while also greatly increasing its holdings in the S&P 500 index put options. The number of bearish options held on SPDR S&P 500 ETFs increased 245% month-on-month, and their share of the portfolio increased by more than 2% month-on-month. Second, Wells Fargo also reduced its holdings in the first quarter of the S&P 500 index: Microsoft (MSFT.US), Nvidia (NVDA.US), Apple (NVDA.US), Google-A (GOOG.US) /Google-C (GOOGL.US), Tesla (TSLA.US), and Accenture (ACN.US).

Among individual stocks that increased their holdings, Wells Fargo preferred Meta (META.US) in the first quarter, and the number of holdings increased by 6.10% compared to the previous quarter. In addition, Wells Fargo also mainly increased positions in Broadcom (AVGO.US) and Automatic Data Processing (ADP.US); all three stocks achieved good returns in the first quarter, with increases of 38%, 20%, and 8% respectively. Moreover, Apple's holdings, which were cut, fell 10% in the first quarter. However, Nvidia (82%) and Microsoft (12%), whose holdings were reduced, achieved good gains in the first quarter.

Judging from changes in position ratios, the top five buying targets were SPDR S&P 500 ETF put options (SPY.US, PUT), Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQ.US), Starbucks (SBUX.US), Meta (META.US), and Zoetis (ZTS.US).

The top five selling targets were Apple (AAPL.US), iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond Index ETF Put Options (HYG.US, PUT), Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF Put Options (QQQ.US, PUT), SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY.US), and Amazon Put Options (AMZN.US, PUT).

Wells Fargo's investment initiatives in the first quarter seem to be different from other major institutions. Wall Street banks such as J.P. Morgan Chase and Citibank greatly increased their positions in tech giants in the first quarter. In the first quarter, J.P. Morgan bought a large number of US tech giants — adding positions to the “Magnificent Seven” stocks; in addition, J.P. Morgan also clearly increased its holdings in some technology stocks related to artificial intelligence. Moreover, most of Citi's top ten major positions in the first quarter were increased by Citi, and those that received an increase in Citi's holdings were all major US tech giants.

Furthermore, the top ten major stocks of the world's largest hedge fund, Qiaoshui Fund in the first quarter were mainly focused on tech giants, and the top five buyers were also tech giants: including Google-C (GOOGL.US), Nvidia (NVDA.US), and Apple (AAPL.US). Global asset management giant Invesco also massively bought shares of giants such as Microsoft (MSFT.US) and Amazon (AMZN.US) in the first quarter.