Stonebridge and the AI Fuss

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Now, gather ’round, if you will, and let me tell you a tale of Wall Street and its latest affections. It concerns Stonebridge Financial Group, a name that sounds like it ought to be building sturdy bridges, but is, in truth, occupied with the rather more ethereal business of shuffling shares. Just the other day—January the twentieth of twenty-twenty-six, if you must have a date—they done near emptied their pockets of some 308,055 shares of this here Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF. A tidy sum, amounting to around $15.6 million, if my calculations—and the quarterly averages—serve me right. Seems a right pile of coin, wouldn’t you say?

What’s Been Transpired

Stonebridge, see, they filed a notice with the government folk—the Securities and Exchange Commission, a body dedicated to keeping things…complicated—reportin’ the sale of most of their holdings in this AI-focused fund. The value of that AIQ position shrunk by a good $15.21 million, not just from the sellin’, mind you, but also from the market doin’ what it always does: wiggling and wobblin’ like a newborn calf.

A Bit More to Ponder

  • After this bit of business, AIQ now amounts to a mere 0.02% of Stonebridge’s holdings. Why, just a quarter ago, it was a whopping 1.36%! A fella could lose track of such things, I reckon.
  • Here’s a look at what Stonebridge is holdin’ onto, as of late:
    • NYSEMKT:DGRO: $54.72 million (4.7% of their total stash)
    • NYSEMKT:SMMU: $53.65 million (4.6%)
    • NYSEMKT:CGCP: $44.87 million (3.8%)
    • NASDAQ:USTB: $38.72 million (3.3%)
    • NASDAQ:AAPL: $37.15 million (3.2%)
  • Now, as of that January date, shares of AIQ were fetchin’ $50.94 apiece, up a good 29.09% over the past year. Outperformin’ the S&P 500 by 17.75 percentage points, no less. Seems a good many folks were bettin’ on these artificial brains.

A Glimpse at the Fund Itself

Metric Value
AUM 0.02%
Price (as of market close 1/20/26) $50.94
Dividend yield 0.18%
1-year total return 29.09%

What This Fund Aims To Do

  • This Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF, you see, is tryin’ to track companies dabblin’ in artificial intelligence and big data. The idea is to mirror the performance of a specialized index, a fancy way of sayin’ they’re followin’ the herd.
  • Mostly, they’re investin’ in global companies that are buildin’, usin’, or supportin’ these AI technologies. At least 80% of their money goes into these index constituents.
  • It’s a non-diversified ETF, which means they’re puttin’ a good many eggs in a few baskets. Risky business, if you ask me.

The fund provides investors with a way to get a piece of the action in this artificial intelligence and big data game.

What Does This All Mean for Us Common Folk?

Now, Stonebridge near emptyin’ their pockets of this AI fund is a thing to note. It was a top 20 holdin’ just last quarter. Seems they’ve had a change of heart. And it’s worth rememberin’ that this fund leans towards holdin’ other ETFs. But the fact they still hold substantial amounts of Apple and Microsoft suggests they still believe in the tech sector, generally.

However, they also sold off all their AMD stock. That may suggest they want less direct exposure to artificial intelligence. This impulse seems to be confirmed by their other moves. None of their new positions were tech stocks, though they increased their stake in Netflix by 955% and their position in Oracle by 52%.

So, while Stonebridge may be content to rely heavily on ETFs, they’ve become more selective about tech stocks. It implies they think the opportunities in that sector lie in specific names rather than tech or AI in general. Seems a sensible approach, if you ask me. Pickin’ winners, rather than bettin’ on the whole race.

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2026-01-29 00:16