5 ASX stocks that Australian Ethical bought or sold recently

We often like to look at shares that well known ASX fund managers are trading, and today we’re looking at a few stocks that Australian Ethical bought or sold recently.

Australian Ethical (ASX:AEF) is one of the best known money managers in Australia with over $10bn in FUM and one of the most consistent performers so far as returns are concerned. Unlike many fund managers, it is publicly listed and so it has to disclose when it reaches the 5% substantial shareholder threshold and then where there is >1% change in its stake so long as it is above 5%. Here are a few companies Australian Ethical has traded recently, judging by recently lodged substantial holder notices.

5 ASX stocks that Australian Ethical bought or sold recently

Janison Education (ASX:JAN)

Janison Education is a company providing digital exams, purporting to have delivered over 30m digital assessment since FY20. AEF has accumulated a 6.54% stake in the company, crossing the 5% threshold in August and continuing to buy since then. This stake is now worth over $3.5m.

In FY24, Janison achieved record revenue of $43.1m, a Gross Profit of $25m (representing a 59% margin) and EBITDA of $3.1m. It was a mixed year for the company with the highlight being a $45m contract with the NSW Department of Education, with the lowlight being the company spending most of the year without a permanent CEO, before hiring former Cambrridge Boxhill Language Assessment CEO Sujata Stead in May 2024.

Janison is not the first edtech company AEF owns – it also has a stake in 3PL Learning, the operator of Mathletics.

Gentrack (ASX:GTK)

With this company gaining 140% in a year, it seems AEF is taking money off the table. And it is not the only company to be selling shares of late – Wilson Asset Management has too. But AEF sold 1m shares and its stake went down from 6.8% to 5.75%.

Gentrack is a provider of essential software and services to utilities and infrastructure providers. Gentrack uses an October-September financial year and is scheduled to report in November. In 1HY24, it delivered a 21% increase in revenues and recorded $12.3m EBITDA, which was in line with guidance. For the full year it is expecting ~$200m in revenue and $23.5-26.5m EBITDA, up 12-13%. Presumably, the institutional investors think this growth is already priced in.

Rubicon Water (ASX:RWL)

Rubicon delivers advanced technology to optimise gravity irrigation management systems through automated gates and precise water accounting software. It has been in business for more than a decade and delivered $58.4m in revenue, although its bottom line was in the red and below expectations even so, given bad debt provisions and the reallocation of contract assets in China back into the company’s inventory.

This is a company that has not had a good year, with the bottom line results and share price more than halving. But AEF evidently thinks it is a buying opportunity, purchasing more than 1m shares in the past month – although its stake ironically decreased from 11.39% to 10.03%.

Nuix (ASX:NXL)

Here is a company that has turned things around. Nuix is a data technology company. It developed an algorithm that enables unstructured data to be made searchable and provides the structure for more elaborate analysis. After a surge post-listing, the share price collapsed over 90% from its peak due to missed prospectus forecasts and multiple lawsuits against.

But the worst of the dramas are behind it, and the company’s results continue to improve. Nuix has more than quadrupled from its all time lows. AEF has made some gains from this, but has opted to take money off the table, selling nearly 2.5m of its shares and reducing its stake from 8.17% to 7.16%.

Eroad (ASX:ERD)

We’ve got another NZX-listed company here. Eroad is a traffic technology business. Its software is used to manage vehicle fleets, support regulatory compliance, improve driver safety and reduce the cost of operating a fleet of vehicles. It is not yet profitable, but achieved positive free cash flow in FY24 and NZ$182m revenue.

AEF bought 3m shares between its FY24 results, released in mid-May, and early September, taking its stake to 11.7%.

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