5 Best Vanguard Stocks to Buy Now

1. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 134

Percentage of Vanguard’s Stake: 7.00%

Vanguard’s Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stake consists of more than 339 million shares, worth $59.2 billion, representing 7% of the total holdings. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the biggest stock in Vanguard’s Q1 2022 portfolio. 

On April 28, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2022, announcing an EPS of $1.52, beating market estimates by $0.09. The Q1 revenue grew 8.59% year-over-year to $97.28 billion, surpassing Street forecasts by $3.29 billion. 

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) declared on April 28 a $0.23 per share quarterly dividend, a 4.5% increase from its last dividend of $0.22. The dividend is distributable on May 12, for shareholders of the company as of May 9. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also authorized an additional $90 billion to its existing share buy back program.

Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty maintained an Overweight rating on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and a $195 price target on the shares on May 3. The analyst said that based on data from Sensor Tower, she estimates Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s App Store net revenue growth increased to 8% year-over-year in April, compared to the March quarter growth of 6% year-over-year. The analyst’s June quarter forecast for App Store growth of 15% year-over-year remains unchanged. 

According to Insider Monkey’s Q4 data, 134 hedge funds were bullish on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is the biggest shareholder of the company, with a position worth $157.5 billion. 

Here is what Berkshire Hathaway has to say about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) – our runner-up Giant as measured by its year end market value – is a different sort of holding. Here, our ownership is a mere 5.55%, up from 5.39% a year earlier. That increase sounds like small potatoes. But consider that each 0.1% of Apple’s 2021 earnings amounted to $100 million. We spent no Berkshire funds to gain our accretion. Apple’s repurchases did the job. It’s important to understand that only dividends from Apple are counted in the GAAP earnings Berkshire reports – and last year, Apple paid us $785 million of those. Yet our “share” of Apple’s earnings amounted to a staggering $5.6 billion. Much of what the company retained was used to repurchase Apple shares, an act we applaud. Tim Cook, Apple’s brilliant CEO, quite properly regards users of Apple products as his first love, but all of his other constituencies benefit from Tim’s managerial touch as well.”

You can also take a look at 10 Dividend Paying Consumer Defensive Stocks and 10 UK Dividend Stocks To Buy. 

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