Morningstar.com Which Funds Own Stocks You Love?
By Peter Di Teresa
Dear Professor,
I often develop strong opinions about a stock, but I don't really want to do my own stock-picking. I'd rather find funds that share my view. For example, how could I find out which funds hold Philip Morris?
Tom J.
I wonder why Tom wants to find managers who own Philip Morris (NYSE: MO - news). Does he want to buy or avoid their funds?
Either way, Morningstar.com has just the ticket for Tom. Read on to discover which funds own the biggest portions of a particular stock, who's buying, who's selling, and who is most committed to the company.
Who Owns Philip Morris?
To find funds that own Philip Morris, go to the stock Quicktake. Look for Stock and Fund Analysis near the top of the new Morningstar.com home page, enter the ticker (MO) in the box, then click Go.
Once you're on the Quicktake page, scroll down the left column to the Ownership section, and click on Major Fund Owners. (To go directly to Philip Morris' Ownership section, click here.)
Here, you'll find a list of the 20 mutual funds owning the biggest chunks of that stock. Investment Company of America (NA: AIVSX), for example, owns 1.75% of Philip Morris' outstanding shares. The stock takes up just 1.84% of the fund's assets.
You also can see what these 20 funds have been doing with the stock. Only a couple of the funds have been selling Philip Morris. Some of the rest have held tight and many have bought more shares.
Digging Deeper into Fund Activity
Now Tom has a pretty good idea of who the big mutual-fund players in Philip Morris are and what they've been doing with the stock. But there's a lot more the Quicktake can tell him. Here's how to dig even deeper into who's buying, selling, and holding lots of the stock.
Big Buyers
To learn who has been snapping up shares of a stock, look for the Morningstar Analysis section on the left side of the page and click on Who's Buying. (This is part of the Morningstar.com Premium Membership but you can try the service for free for 30 days.)
AXP New Dimensions (NA: INNDX) has been the biggest recent buyer of Philip Morris: The fund has bought more than 4.8 million shares as of its last portfolio date.
Big Sellers
Next, click on Who's Selling. By comparing this with the information on the big buyers, you'll get a feel for whether funds have been more feverish about snapping up or dumping the stock.
The 20 largest fund sales of Philip Morris are clearly smaller than the buys. After the stock's ugly 55% loss in 1999, it looks like funds have taken a shine to Philip Morris.
Biggest Commitment
The most telling information, for me, appears in True Believers. These are the funds that have dedicated the largest portion of their assets to a particular stock. If I want to avoid a stock that I don't like, this is my list of funds to steer clear of. If I like the stock, this tells me which managers see eye-to-eye with me, and whose fund offers the most exposure to it.
Click here, and you'll see which funds put the most of their shareholders' money in Philip Morris. If you invest $10,000 in Kemper- Dreman High Return Equity (NA: KDHAX), for example, you've got $909 invested in Philip Morris--it's 9.09% of the fund's portfolio.
This column originally ran on December 18, 2000. |
