T Rowe Price Equity Income Fund (Trades, Portfolio), part of Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price Group Inc. (TROW, Financial), disclosed that its top five trades during the second quarter included a new position in Meta Platforms Inc. (META, Financial), a boost to its holding in News Corp. (NWSA, Financial), the closure of its stake in UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH, Financial) and reductions to its positions in MetLife Inc. (MET, Financial) and Elevance Health Inc. (ELV, Financial).
Managed by John Linehan, the fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in stocks that are undervalued and have a strong track record of paying dividends.
As of June, the fund’s $16.68 billion equity portfolio contains 112 stocks, with five new positions and a quarterly turnover ratio of 5%. The top four sectors in terms of weight are financial services, health care, industrials and utilities, representing 20.32%, 18.47%, 10.21% and 9.56% of the equity portfolio.
Investors should be aware portfolio updates for mutual funds do not necessarily provide a complete picture of a guru’s holdings. The data is sourced from the quarterly updates on the website of the fund(s) in question. This usually consists of long equity positions in U.S. and foreign stocks. All numbers are as of the quarter’s end only; it is possible the guru may have already made changes to the positions after the quarter ended. However, even this limited data can provide valuable information.
Meta Platforms
The fund invested in 675,000 shares of Meta Platforms (META, Financial), giving the position 0.65% equity portfolio weight. Shares averaged $193.38 during the second quarter; the stock is significantly undervalued based on Tuesday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.41.
The company formerly known as Facebook has a GF Score of 92 out of 100, driven by a rank of 10 out of 10 for profitability and growth and a financial strength rank of 8 out of 10 despite momentum and GF Value ranking just 4 out of 10.
Other gurus with holdings in Meta include Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio)’s Fisher Investments and Dodge & Cox.
News Corp.
The fund added 4.01 million Class A shares of News Corp. (NWSA, Financial), boosting the position by 41.38% and its equity portfolio by 0.37%.
Shares of News averaged $18.44 during the second quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on Tuesday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.94.
The New York-based media company has a GF Score of 70 out of 100 based on a growth rank of 3 out of 10, a rank of 5 out of 10 for profitability and momentum and a rank of 6 out of 10 for financial strength and GF Value.
UnitedHealth Group
The fund sold all 195,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group (UNH, Financial), trimming 0.52% of its equity portfolio.
Shares of UnitedHealth Group averaged $502.32 during the second quarter; the stock is modestly overvalued based on Tuesday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 1.24.
The Minnetonka, Minnesota-based health insurance company has a GF Score of 89 out of 100 on the back of a growth rank of 10 out of 10, a profitability rank of 9 out of 10 and a rank of 6 out of 10 for financial strength and momentum despite GF Value ranking just 3 out of 10.
MetLife
The fund sold 1.39 million shares of MetLife (MET, Financial), slicing 26.99% of the position and 0.51% of its equity portfolio.
Shares of MetLife averaged $66.26 during the second quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on Tuesday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 1.09.
The New York-based life insurance company has a GF Score of 78 out of 100 based on a momentum rank of 9 out of 10, a growth rank of 7 out of 10, a profitability rank of 6 out of 10, a financial strength rank of 5 out of 10 and a GF Value rank of 3 out of 10.
Elevance Health
The fund sold 170,000 shares of Elevance Health (ELV, Financial), trimming 17.53% of the position and 0.44% of its equity portfolio.
Shares of Elevance Health traded around $494.66 during the second quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on Tuesday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 1.04.
The health insurance company formerly known as Anthem has a GF Score of 91 out of 100 based on a growth rank of 10 out of 10, a profitability rank of 9 out of 10, a momentum rank of 6 out of 10 and a rank of 5 out of 10 for financial strength and GF Value.
