Internet giant Alibaba has become the first mainland Chinese company to join the ranks of stocks most commonly held by the world’s big institutional investors, according to data provider eVestment.
eVestment, which tracks $37tn managed for investors like pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and endowments, said Alibaba BABA, -1.66% became the 20th most widely held stock as of the end of last year, in the most recent update of its regular Institutional Stock Ownership Report.
The Chinese internet firm’s ascent in fund managers’ portfolios has been rapid; at the end of 2016, eVestment said, it was only the 43rd most widely held.
Alibaba’s rise caps a year in which technology firms based in emerging markets — particularly China — have been a favored play of outperforming stock pickers. The firm was one of the top performers in surging sector last year.
U.K. fund managers such as Baillie Gifford, Kames Capital and Neptune Investment Management all called the trend correctly last year and ended up topping performance rankings as a result.
The upper reaches of eVestment’s ranking of popular companies were dominated by U.S. tech giants. Microsoft MSFT, +1.34% is the most widely-held stock among institutional fund managers, while Google parent Alphabet GOOGL, +0.60% is second and Apple AAPL, +1.03% third. Facebook FB, +0.46% is fifth, behind banking giant JPMorgan JPM, +1.37%.
However, another U.S. financial giant, Wells Fargo WFC, +1.42% , dropped out of the top 20 during the three months ended December 31, thanks to conduct scandals that have plagued its U.S. retail business.
eVestment said: “Institutional asset managers sold about 21.8 million Wells Fargo shares during 2017, according to separate data also attached here, as investors, media and regulatory authorities continued to explore the challenges at the company.”
