* More filers trim Magnificent Seven holdings than add or

start positions

* Semiconductor stocks retain bullish tilt, with net buyers

outnumbering net sellers

* Oil sector draws limited interest, with institutions net

sellers

By Suzanne McGee, Akash Sriram and Anirban Sen

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Institutional

investors pulled back slightly from key stock market segments

such as semiconductors, AI infrastructure and megacap technology

companies during the second quarter, with few big bets in either

direction, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show.

A Reuters analysis of quarterly 13F filings from 6,371

pension funds, hedge funds, wealth managers and other

institutional investors reveals a narrow gap between the number

of investors increasing their positions and those reducing them,

but in many cases the gap swung slightly negative.

Nearly 44% of filers reviewed trimmed their holdings of the

Magnificent Seven group of megacap tech firms such as Microsoft ( MSFT )

and Meta Platforms ( META ), while 42% initiated or

expanded their holdings of this group. These giant tech stocks

collectively have helped power the stock market higher over the

recent bull market. The remainder did not disclose any change to

their stakes.

The filings are for the quarter through June 30. The

analysis is based on filings as of early Friday afternoon,

according to the SEC website.

Investors do not disclose the reasoning for their position

changes. But some market participants said the data might say

more about the extent to which many institutions have already

built up positions in these market segments than about their

fundamental outlook for these entities - and might help to

explain some recent market momentum shifts.

"When buys and sells are that closely matched, to us it

signals the absence of consensus," said Shaia Hosseinzadeh,

founder of OnyxPoint Global Management, a hedge fund. "Nobody

disputes the quantum of (AI) spending that is happening." But he

added there is disagreement about which companies ultimately

will profit, which creates uncertainty.

For many funds that have held big stakes in these businesses

for some time, risk factors also come into play.

"What you might be seeing is that some of these large firms

might be long as much as they want to be or should be, given

their risk parameters or investment policies," said Steve

Sosnick, market strategist at Interactive Brokers.

"That also would explain why some companies that have

reported good earnings have still seen their stocks sell off

afterwards," he added. "The big holders who might normally have

been buyers on good news just couldn't add more to their

positions."

Institutional investors still displayed a bullish tilt

toward semiconductor names as of the end of the second quarter,

the 13F data showed. Of the funds that had filed with the SEC by

early afternoon, 48% were net buyers and only 34.5% were net

sellers.

A similarly narrow gap is evident with respect to a group of

20 major software companies, including Adobe and

Datadog ( DDOG ), with 28.2% of institutional investors

revealing they were net sellers while 26.3% were net buyers.

TIGER PRUNES STAKES IN MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

At least one widely followed hedge fund, Tiger Global

Management, disclosed that it cut its holdings in several

Magnificent Seven companies, including Microsoft ( MSFT ), Nvidia ( NVDA )

and Meta, and reduced its exposure to Alphabet

by 45.4% to 5.8 million shares. The fund also reduced

its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor, as did SoftBank

Group, although Tiger boosted its holdings of Intel ( INTC )

during the quarter.

That may have cost some hedge funds dearly in July, when an

unwinding of technology-oriented trades put a big dent in

returns. Crowded bets on technology stocks meant it was

particularly difficult for hedge funds and other speculators to

capture their previous profits when trying to exit their trades,

JPMorgan said in a note published earlier this month and seen by

Reuters.

Investors displayed a bias for building their stakes in

AI-themed stocks during the second quarter, with 36% of all

institutions that have so far filed their 13F documents

disclosing they were net buyers of companies such as CoreWeave ( CRWV )

, Arista Networks ( ANET ) and Broadcom ( AVGO ).

During the second quarter, AI-related stocks ranging from

memory chips to data centers "moved from (being) a fundamental

growth story into a highly leveraged momentum trade," said Bruno

Schneller, managing partner at multi-family office Erlen Capital

Management, which invests in hedge funds.

The July selloff in many of these names, Schneller added,

"was less a rejection of the long-term AI thesis and more a

classic crowded-trade unwind amplified by leverage and

inadequate risk controls."

Despite the spike in crude oil prices during the second

quarter, institutional investors in aggregate showed little

affection for the sector, with 40.3% reporting they were net

sellers of a group of a dozen major energy firms, while only 28%

were net buyers.

OnyxPoint, which invests in AI-adjacent companies such as

metals and mining companies and energy businesses, increased its

exposure to some energy plays in the second quarter.

The hedge fund established new positions in BP and

Devon Energy ( DVN ) as well as Fervo Energy ( FRVO ), a

geothermal energy provider. OnyxPoint also initiated a stake in

Keel Infrastructure ( KEEL ), a data center company.

Overall, institutional investors displayed a wait-and-see

attitude toward data centers, with net buyers and sellers almost

precisely balanced, at 24.3% each of all those that had filed

their reports.