2016’s Top Earning Hedge Fund Managers And Their Favorite Stocks

3. Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates

2016 Earnings: $1.4 billion

Top Pick at the End of 2016: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ray Dalio came up just short of the top earners, pulling in a mere $1.4 billion last year. Bridgewater’s Pure Alpha had modest 2016 net of fee returns of 2.4%, while its All Weather and Pure Alpha Major Markets funds did much better, returning 11.6% and 12.9% respectively. The $160 billion hedge fund’s founder and current co-CIO ranked as the top earner back in 2011. He’s scheduled to release a book through Simon and Schuster later this year dubbed Principles by Ray Dalio.

Bridgewater’s top stock pick at the end of last year was Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), though it held several much larger positions in index funds, which is why its Apple bet accounted for just 0.45% of the value of its massive 13F portfolio. Apple is enjoying a great start to 2017, gaining 24% and pushing to all-time highs. Its market cap has also crested $750 billion, after falling below $500 billion less than a year ago. There have been mild rumblings that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) could buy Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS), though nothing concrete has emerged as of yet.