Ed Lin
It's said that everything's bigger in Texas, and the state's largest public pension just made outsize moves, increasing stakes in a handful of the most volatile tech stocks.
Teacher Retirement System of Texas scooped up shares of Palantir Technologies, Nvidia, and Tesla, and halved its investment in AT&T in the fourth quarter. TRS, as the pension is known, disclosed the trades in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
TRS declined to comment on the changes. It managed total net assets of $210.5 billion as of Aug. 31, 2024, making it the country's sixth-largest public pension, and one of the world's top 25.
Data-analytics firm Palantir saw its stock rocket 340% in 2024, compared with a 23% rise in the S&P 500 index. So far this year, shares are up 58%, compared with a 4% gain in the index.
Palantir managed to thread quite a needle in last year's second half, joining both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100, and gaining both a higher profile and more investors through funds that track the indexes. The year's first half wasn't too shabby, either -- the company tallied both strong earnings, and contract wins.
The pension loaded up on Palantir, buying 507,340 shares to end the fourth quarter with 520,900 shares.
TRS bought 1.8 million Nvidia shares to end the quarter with 8.7 million. The company makes artificial-intelligence chips. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with President Donald Trump last month, and the two spoke about AI policy.
Nvidia stock slipped late January with the emergence of a low-cost AI model from Chinese firm DeepSeek. Nonetheless, the chip maker has made it a habit to report strong earnings, and expectations remain high for the fiscal-fourth-quarter report after the market close on Feb. 26.
Shares soared 171% in 2024; so far this year, they're up 3.4%.
Tesla stock soared 63% in 2024 and is down 12% so far this year.
The fortunes of Tesla investors, including CEO Elon Musk, rose with Trump's election because of Musk's support before the vote. In November, Musk vowed to eliminate "waste, fraud and abuse" from the U.S. government through his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, when Trump took office. In the new year, however, Tesla investors are worried Musk is distracted from doing his best for Tesla.
The pension sold 1.9 million AT&T shares to end the quarter with 1.8 million.
AT&T has been reporting strong earnings, including the latest report in January. The telecom's dividend has lost luster, but still offers a hefty yield. After all, now that AT&T has largely left the media business, the shares have surged.
AT&T stock rose 37% in 2024, and so far in 2025 shares are up 14%.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron's feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members -- so-called insiders -- as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow @BarronsEdLin.
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February 21, 2025 21:30 ET (02:30 GMT)
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