Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Fund Snaps Up $7.7B Of US Stocks, Including Boeing and Facebook

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) has dramatically ramped up its holdings of US stocks in the first quarter of the year, a new filing has revealed.

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The $325 billion fund, which is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, made the most of the coronavirus-related stock market selloff by taking its US holdings from a total value of $2.1 billion to $9.78 billion in just three months.

Sizable new positions include an $828M stake in BP Plc (BP), and a $714M stake in Boeing (BA).

PIF also made significant investments in Citigroup (C), Facebook ($521M) (FB), Marriott (MAR), Disney (DIS), Pfizer (PFE) and Starbucks (SBUX).

However the fund said goodbye to a small position in controversial auto stock Tesla (TSLA) – which has seen share prices explode 91% year-to-date.

“These opportunities include sectors and companies that are well positioned to drive economies and lead sectors moving forward,” PIF said in a statement.

Boeing stock has plunged more than 60% since the beginning of the year. The company recently revealed that it did not receive a single order in April, while it was also grappling with 108 order cancellations for its grounded 737 MAX plane.

Last month, the ailing plane maker delivered 6 planes adding up to a total of 56 in first four months of this year, which represents a 67% decline year-on-year, as air travel demand has been halted in an effort to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

The April cancellations of its 737 MAX jets were from clients including China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co and General Electric’s (GE) aircraft unit GECAS.

TipRanks shows that Wall Street analysts have a cautiously optimistic outlook on Boeing right now. The Moderate Buy consensus is based on 11 Holds, 6 Buys and 1 Sell. The $163 average price target implies 36% upside potential in the stock in the next 12 months. (See Boeing’s stock analysis on TipRanks).