5 Favorite Defensive Stocks of Hedge Funds

1. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number Of Hedge Fund Holders: 131

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is an American multinational technology company that specializes in consumer electronics, software, and online services. One of the few stocks that can claim to be pandemic winners, shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose in value by a staggering 360% between December 2018 and December 2021. Due to an extremely loyal fanbase, and a highly impressive 92% customer retention rate, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) can weather a market downturn amid inflationary pressures.

On June 7, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty kept an ‘Overweight’ rating on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares and a price target of $195. The global tech giant recently introduced a number of software and hardware upgrades to its product lineup at its keynote Worldwide Developers Conference, including updates to the iOS 16 software, a new M2 chip and upgraded versions of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops. With regards to these reveals, the analyst notes that the company’s most attractive feature is its focus on in-house hardware and software innovation.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) released its better-than-expected earnings report for the fiscal second quarter of 2022 on April 28. The company reported earnings per share of $1.52, beating market estimates by $0.09. The tech giant also generated quarterly revenues that amounted to $97.28 billion, an increase of 8.59% on a year-over-year basis, crossing the market forecasts by $3.29 billion.

The investor sentiment around the stock has largely been positive, making Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) one of the best defensive stocks out there. At the end of the first quarter of 2022, 131 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $182 billion in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Of these, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway held the largest stake in the company, with a position worth $155.56 billion.

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, mentioned Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its fourth-quarter 2021 investor letter. Here is what the firm said:

“Despite these mixed emerging growth results, the ClearBridge Global Growth Strategy outperformed the benchmark due to resilience among our secular and structural growth holdings. The bulk of these contributions came from U.S. mega-cap growth stocks Apple and Microsoft which continued to uniquely act both offensively and defensively as they have through most of the pandemic.”

You can also take a look at 10 Best Shipping Stocks that Pay Dividends and 10 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy for Long Term Gains.

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