Cynical ploy or sincere effort? The spate of recent mass shootings has one mutual fund manager swearing off investments in gun manufacturers. Azzad Asset Management, investment advisor to the Azzad Funds, announced the policy Tuesday.
The firm’s investment committee identified three companies in particular which it says benefit from the sale of assault weapons: Smith & Wesson, Sturm, Ruger & Company, and Olin. Both Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Company manufacture versions of the assault rifle used in the latest mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. Olin is an ammunition producer.
Azzad added it does not currently invest in these companies and therefore cannot divest from them, but its investment committee has now explicitly prohibited portfolio managers from purchasing shares of the aforementioned companies.
“Investors have the ability to enact social change, and that’s part of our mandate at Azzad,” Azzad Vice President and investment committee member Jamal Elbarmil, said in a statement. “Socially responsible mutual funds have an obligation on behalf of their shareholders to stop financially supporting companies that help enable the gun violence that has gripped our nation for too long.”
It notes a recent statement by Boston-based NorthStar Asset Management, Inc., which cited Bloomberg data claiming that approximately 15% of the outstanding shares of Smith & Wesson stock are held in mutual funds. It went on to say that retirement platforms Vanguard and Fidelity offer Smith & Wesson stock through their retail mutual funds. The total value of those holdings is $60 million and $54 million, respectively. Retirement investors often own and profit from these investments without their knowledge.
“Azzad applies a variety of faith-based, socially responsible investment criteria to its mutual funds and other portfolios,” the company said. “In addition to avoiding companies that profit from tobacco, alcohol, gambling, financial services, and pornography, Azzad also filters out defense contractors and companies that are involved in hydraulic fracturing or that do not comply with the UN Global Compact on human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption.”