Cohen & Steers Inc.'s total common stock holdings of U.S. real estate investment trusts increased sequentially by 0.8% to $39.72 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to its latest Form 13F filing.

Upping stakes in majority of top holdings

The New York-based asset manager increased its holdings in 11 companies out of the top 20 REIT holdings, with Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. witnessing the largest stake increase during the fourth quarter of 2022. The residential REIT moved up eight spots to the ninth position following Cohen & Steers increasing its exposure by 66.5% to $1.54 billion.

Prologis Inc. emerged as the top REIT holding of Cohen & Steers in the fourth quarter of 2022 as the asset manager upped its holdings in the San Francisco-based industrial REIT by 56.6%, the second-largest stake increase, to $4.15 billion.

On Oct. 3, 2022, Prologis completed the acquisition of Duke Realty Corp., in which Cohen & Steers held 41,238,418 shares valued at $1.99 billion as of Sept. 30, 2022.

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During the fourth quarter, Cohen & Steers decreased its stake in nine of its top 20 REIT holdings, with specialty communications REIT, American Tower Corp., experiencing the steepest reduction at 25.4% to $2.12 billion.

Public Storage, which held the top spot in the third quarter of 2022, slipped to the fifth position as the asset manager sequentially reduced its exposure in the self-storage REIT by 10.1% to $2.51 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Increases and decreases in REIT holdings

Cohen & Steers upped its share count in American Homes 4 Rent to close to 10 million shares for a market value of $295.7 million in the fourth quarter, the largest stake increase during the quarter.

American Homes 4 Rent was followed by Mid-America Apartment Communities and Prologis, as the asset manager increased its position to almost 10 million shares with a market value of $1.54 billion and close to 37 million shares with a market value of $4.15 billion, respectively.

The asset manager divested more than half of its stakes in seven REITs including nearly full stakes in Store Capital LLC and Iron Mountain Inc. On Feb. 3, Store Capital completed its sale to an investor group comprised of Oak Street Real Estate Capital LLC and GIC Pte. Ltd.

Initiation and exits

In the fourth quarter of 2022, Cohen & Steers bought a $12.2 million stake in office REIT Boston Properties Inc., which was the only position initiated by the asset manager during the quarter.

On the other hand, the asset manager exited six positions during the fourth quarter of 2022, two of them in industrial REITs including Duke Realty, which was acquired by Prologis.

Sector exposure

In terms of sector exposure, Cohen & Steers continued to have the largest exposure in residential REITs, which accounted for $8.94 billion. The specialty sector, a category that includes advertising, casino, communications, data center and timber REITs, took the second spot with holdings totaling $8.35 billion.

Retail REITs followed, with a market value of $7.12 billion.