For anyone who is interested in following the investment moves of the big, institutional players, Real Time Traders pointed out on Wednesday that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has been ramping up its exposure to Bank of America Corp.
According to a 13-F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, CPPIB holds nearly 9.5 million shares in the U.S. financial firm, as of the end of the first quarter. And according to Real Time Traders, that's up from nearly 2 million shares at end of the previous quarter. Is CPPIB getting bullish?
Who knows, this could indeed be the start of a big position in U.S. financials in general. But a little perspective is needed here. CPPIB's Bank of America holdings merely rank it 15th among the bank's institutional shareholders, and the ownership slice is just 0.09 per cent.
That's not huge, given that the board's total assets at the end of 2009 were nearly $124-billion. At current prices, CPPIB's Bank of America holdings represent just 0.0013 per cent of its assets, which is hardly a big bet.
David Berman