Bridgewater Bets On Insurers, Brazil

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bridgewater Associates, one of the world's largest and best-performing hedge funds, bet on U.S. insurance company stocks and a fund that tracks Brazilian stocks in the second quarter, according to Bloomberg data based on a 13F filing released Friday.

Though Bridgewater manages some $120 billion in assets, it has just $6.7 billion in U.S.-listed stocks, according to the Bloomberg data. The bulk of that is in broad-based exchange-traded funds that track U.S. and emerging-market stocks. Bridgewater's top three holdings, totaling nearly 80% of its U.S.-listed stock portfolio, are three exchange-traded funds, the SPDR S&P 500(SPY) , Vanguard MSCI Emerging Market(VWO) and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index(EEM) .

While individual company bets are comparatively small, insurers stood out.

Bridgewater, managed by investor Ray Dalio, increased its stake in MetLife(MET) to $15 million, making the life insurer its largest holding among U.S.-listed financial sector stocks. It also added to stakes in Hartford Financial Services Group(HIG) , Prudential Financial (PRU) and AFLAC(AFL) .

Bridgewater also established new positions in Unum Group(UNM) , XL Group(xl) , Allstate(ALL) , ACE LTD(ACE) , Marsh & Mclennan(MMC) and Lincoln National(LNC) .

It did not decrease its stake in any insurers, though it did sell out of small stakes in Principal Financial Group (PFG) , Genworth Financial(GNW) and Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.B) .

Bridgewater's biggest single new purchase was a $103.5 million stake in iShares Brazil(EWZ) , followed by a $12.23 million stake in Cliffs Natural Resources(CLF) .

-- Written by Dan Freed in New York.

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