10 Most Widely Held Stocks by Hedge Funds

5. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 184

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), the company behind the iPhone, is one of the most widely held stocks by hedge funds. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also offers services such as iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple Music, and Apple TV+.

In the fiscal third quarter of 2024, the company launched Apple Intelligence, a personal intelligence system backed by AI. Apple Intelligence is integrated into all new iPhone, iPad, and Mac models. The launch of iPhone 16 and iOS 18 is expected to drive strong financial results for the company for the rest of 2024.

In FQ3 2024, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) logged $85.8 billion in quarterly revenue, up by 5% year-over-year. Of this, the iPhone reported revenue worth $39.3 billion and Mac revenue was $7 billion, up by 2% from a year ago. Apple’s economic moat lies in its consistent financial performance. Over the past 10 years, the company has grown its revenues and net income by 8% and 10%, respectively.

Analysts are bullish on AAPL and their 12-month median price target of $250 points to a 10% upside from current levels. Overall, AAPL was held by 184 hedge funds in the second quarter of 2024, with total stakes worth $124.18 billion.

Columbia Contrarian Core Fund stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

“Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) – Despite the stock falling after announcing earnings in late May, Apple regained ground toward the end of the quarter, fueled by the company’s long-awaited AI announcement at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WDC). At the conference, the company showcased some of its new AI features powered by Apple Intelligence that would be coming to Apple products and also announced a partnership with ChatGPT. Investors greatly welcomed the announcement of Apple’s AI strategy and the stock surged, passing Microsoft as the world’s most valuable company (although this hallmark wouldn’t last). Beta testing of these new features will be coming later this summer, but the initial promise and excitement looks to be a potential catalyst for an upgrade cycle, as the company looks to persuade users who have had the same smartphone for years to consider an upgrade.”