Twitter Is Buzzing About This CalSTRS Stock Move

This quarter, the second largest pension fund in the United States, with more than $300 billion in assets under management (AUM) increased its shares of AMC Entertainment by 24%. Many on Twitter have taken this to mean that meme stocks are gaining legitimacy with established investors.

A tweet pointing out the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS)’s move, from twitter user @Farshadmm, had almost 2,000 likes and more than 400 retweets.

California state teachers retirement, bought 133,512 shares of $AMC. Let me repeat. The second largest public pension in the united states is averaging up on their #AMC investment.
— Farshad (@Farshadmm) November 29, 2021

Right now, AMC stock is experiencing a dip in price and is at its lowest point since August. Many social media users, including on Twitter and Reddit, are urging each other to hold the stock, hoping they can continue to profit off it in the long run. Twitter was filled with users commenting on the potential for the stock to explode again and many users, such as @TeQuilaM68, seemed convinced that the elites of the financial industry were trying to get meme investors to quit.

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They are going to drop the price so low that when it goes back up to $60, $70, $100 they hope we will be so mentally, emotionally exhausted that we’ll sell just to get it over with.
If that isn’t going to work with you, stand your ground and retweet!!! #AMCNOTLEAVING #AMC
— Hermes Hero (@TeQuilaM68) November 30, 2021

AMC first had its major spike on January 27, when it jumped from $4.96 a share to $19.90 a share. This was during the height of the meme-stock craze brought on by Reddit users looking to bid up the price of nostalgia stocks that hedge funds were trying to short-squeeze.

AMC had a second spike in the end of May, when it shot up from $13.68 a share to its peak at $62.55 a share on June 2. Looking at the total gains from Jan. 27 to June 2, the stock had appreciated by a whopping 1,161%.

Many Twitter users also noted that CalSTRS had sold more than 500,000 shares of stock in Berkshire Hathaway, the multinational conglomerate run by CEO Warren Buffett. Some took this as a win against billionaires and establishment companies.

DAMN… PENSION FUNDS SELLING BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY TO BUY $AMC

SORRY WARREN BUFFETT LOL#AMC #AMCSQUEEZE pic.twitter.com/VWcfYCM6pZ
— AMC 2 Moon (@AMC_Apee) November 29, 2021

As a rule, CalSTRS does not comment on individual stock choices. The fund filed its most recent 13F quarterly report on Nov. 15, which detailed its holdings as of Sept. 30.

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Tags: 13F, AMC, CalSTRS, GameStop, meme stocks, Pension, Q3, Twitter

Massachusetts’ $95.7 billion state pension fund has preliminarily approved a plan to invest up to $1 billion in emerging-diverse managers over the next two years. The move is part of the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM)’s initiative to abide by the state’s investment equity law, which contains a target of at least 20% diversity among PRIM’s vendor base.

“The PRIM team, by investing $1 billion into its emerging-diverse managers program, is taking important steps in addressing the inequities endemic in the financial services sector,” State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, who is also the chair of PRIM’s board, said in a statement. “This is real and tangible progress that will reduce barriers and expand opportunities for diverse investment managers.”

This year, PRIM has allocated $2 billion to established diverse managers, including as much as $1 billion to Boston-based investment management firm RhumbLine Advisers, which is a female- and minority-owned institutional investment management firm. If PRIM’s board approves the recommendation made by the pension fund’s investment committee, five different firms—each representing one of the fund’s asset designations—will help direct money to emerging-diverse managers. The board will vote on the recommendation on Thursday.

The five firms that have been designated to help source, conduct due diligence, and monitor investment managers are Hamilton Lane for private equity, Bivium Capital for fixed income, Cambridge Associates for real estate, Xponance Inc. for global equities, and PAAMCO, which will invest in emerging-diverse hedge fund managers for PRIM.

Earlier this year, the PRIM board voted to raise its standards for diversity among the boards and employees of the companies it invests in. PRIM said it will vote against or withhold a vote from all nominees of a portfolio company’s board if less than 35% of the board is diverse in terms of race, and if it is less than 35% diverse in terms of gender. PRIM’s previous policy was to vote against or withhold a vote if less than 35% of the board was diverse in terms of race and gender combined.

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Along with the board diversity policy, the pension fund also added a policy that requires at least 20% of a portfolio company’s employees to be diverse in terms of race and at least 20% of employees of the company to be diverse in terms of gender. PRIM also requires that at least 20% percent of suppliers, contractors, and vendors used by a company be minority-owned businesses, and that at least 20% of suppliers, contractors, and vendors used by a company be woman-owned businesses.