Canadian Pension Fund Loads up on These 4 Marijuana Stocks

Leading Canadian pension fund manager shows his confidence in the cannabis sector, ups stake in Canopy Growth and establishes large positions in three other top Canadian Licensed Producers.

The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) is one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers, with CDN $153 billion of net assets under management as of March 31, 2018. It was disclosed that as of the end of 2018 PSP backed up the truck and loaded up on 2.56 million shares of Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX: ACB) (NYSE: ACB). The cost of PSP’s Aurora Cannabis holding was roughly USD $12,719,000 with an avg per share cost of USD $4.96.

This pension fund manager also added 60,300 shares to their position in Canopy Growth Corporation (TSX: WEED) (NYSE: CGC) bringing their total holding to 555,100 shares. The total cost of PSP’s Canopy holding was approximately USD $14,879,00 with an average cost per share of USD $26.80.

PSP also initiated a position in Aphria Inc. (TSX: APHA) (NYSE: APHA) scooping up a total of 553,800 shares worth roughly USD $3,183,000 at an average cost of USD $5.75 per share.

To round things off PSP opened up a position in Cronos Group Inc. (TSX: CRON) (NASDAQ: CRON) accumulating 431,900 shares worth approximately USD $4,547,000. That works out to an average cost of USD $10.53 per share.

Source: Shutterstock

According to Friday, February 22, 2019’s market close prices PSP’s four cannabis positions show the following gains:

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB) – Last trade: $6.96 | Current gain of 40.32%
Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE: CGC) – Last trade: $44.56 | Current gain of 66.19%
Aphria Inc. (NYSE: APHA) – Last trade: $10.18 | Current gain of 77.04%
Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON) – Last trade: $21.92 | Current gain of 108.17%
Total investment = USD $35,328,000 (CDN $46,397,000)
Current value of cannabis holdings = USD $57,672,000 (CDN $75,743,000) | Current gain of 63.25%

* Totals and prices are approximates and were calculated using the data obtained from this SEC regulatory filing.

In other news, the PSP fund manager also increased its position in Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) to a total of 97,192 shares. The fund manager also decreased its exposure to Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) by 10,000 shares for a total current holding of 27,636 shares.

This marks the beginning of institutional investors going from making fun of the industry’s valuations and other typical business risks to starting to take it seriously. The recent deals by Constellation Brands into Canopy Growth and Altria into Cronos Group also support this fact as the major corporations can no longer deny the massive growth potential the burgeoning cannabis industry has to offer.

Best of luck to you all and happy trading.

Ryan Troup

Editor in Chief

The Cannabis Investor.ca

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