Continuing the pace of increasing investments, Ping An increased its holdings in 3 bank stocks after the New Year

Ping An's enthusiasm for bank stocks continues.

On February 11, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange disclosed that Ping An and its subsidiary Ping An Asset Management had continuously increased their holdings in three banks on February 6, raising their shareholding ratios in Agricultural Bank of China H-shares, Postal Savings Bank of China H-shares, and China Merchants Bank H-shares to 6.07%, 6.05%, and 6.06%, respectively.

Based on the stock prices on that day, Ping An spent HKD 400 million to increase its holdings in bank stocks within a single day.

Previously, Ping An and its life insurance and asset management subsidiaries had intensively increased their stakes in bank stocks, planning to raise their holdings in China Construction Bank H-shares, Agricultural Bank of China H-shares, China Merchants Bank H-shares, and Postal Savings Bank of China H-shares to 5% by the end of 2024 to early 2025, and increase their holdings in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China H-shares to 15%.

In terms of targets, Ping An shows a clear preference for high-dividend large-cap H-shares.

This choice is within market expectations.

In the new round of "stake increase wave" in 2024, the strategy of insurance funds continues to shift towards defense, with high-dividend characteristics further strengthened.

Firstly, there is a clear increase in allocation to undervalued Hong Kong stocks, with more than half of the companies targeted for stake increases being H-shares with better dividend performance;

Secondly, the targeted companies are generally concentrated in high-dividend industries such as utilities, environmental protection, and banking, as well as industries like pharmaceuticals and non-bank financials that may have potential synergies in the future.

However, compared to peers, Ping An's timing for initiating stake increases this round appears slightly delayed.

According to data from the Insurance Industry Association, Ping An's last concentrated stake increase occurred in 2018-2019; during the period from 2019 to 2024, the insurance industry has already experienced two rounds of "stake increase waves."

The first occurred during the structural "bull market" in 2020, when leading insurance companies completed 24 stake increases.

At that time, the overall capital market was recovering, with sectors like electricity and food leading the gains. Leading insurance companies such as China Life and Taikang frequently increased their stakes, showing a certain preference for high-dividend assets.

The second round occurred during 2023-2024, as insurance companies collectively entered the transition period of the new accounting standards, and the equity market showed signs of bottom recovery, highlighting the focus of insurance funds on dividend assets.

Before Ping An's stake increase at the end of 2024, other insurance companies had completed nearly 20 stake increases within the year.

The continued increase in holdings after the stake increase also reflects Ping An's emphasis on dividend assets under the current circumstances.

Shenwan Hongyuan pointed out in a research report that "Ping An's increase in holdings of bank H-shares may be due to dual considerations of asset allocation and business development, while also positively responding to the call for medium- and long-term funds to enter the market."

CITIC Securities' research report noted that since the beginning of 2025, bank stocks have performed steadily, better than the dividend sector, and under the background of re-evaluating bank credit risk assets, a strong return trend is expected in the first half of the year