Adage Capital Management is a Boston-based hedge fund founded in 2001 by Phil Gross and Robert Atchinson. As of June 30, Adage’s public equity portfolio has a worth of $36.31 billion. In this article, we’ll discuss five stocks which Adage Capital was loading up on during the third quarter, which include Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), PNC Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE:PNC), and CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF).
We believe that imitating hedge funds and other large institutional investors can be helpful in identifying stocks capable of outperforming the broader market. Through extensive research that covered portfolios of several hundred large investors between 1999 and 2012, we determined that following the small-cap stocks that large money managers are collectively bullish on, can generate monthly returns nearly 1.0 percentage points above the market (see more details). 
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
– Shares Owned by Adage Capital Management (as of September 30): 7.69 million
– Value of Adage Capital Management’s Holding (as of September 30): $870.24 million
Adage Capital Management bought 227,900 shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the third quarter. The fund concluded the period with an $870.24 million stake in the company, owning over 7.69 million shares. After the surprising victory of Donald Trump in the presidential elections, Apple’s stock sank due to rumors regarding Trump’s plan of instituting a 10% repatriation tax and putting a limit to offshore manufacturing to create jobs at home. Apple’s stock has gained about 3% year-to-date. The company earned $1.67 per share on $46.9 billion in revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter, more than the consensus estimate of $1.65 in EPS and $46.89 billion in revenue. The company expects its fiscal first quarter 2017 revenue to come in at between $76 billion and $78 billion, while the consensus stands at $74.98 billion. A total of 116 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) at the end of the second quarter.
Follow Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Follow Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
– Shares Owned by Adage Capital Management (as of September 30): 484,261 Class C Shares
– Value of Adage Capital Management’s Holding (as of September 30): $376.41 million
Adage Capital upped its stake in Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9% in the third quarter. At the end of September, the fund owned 484,261 class C shares of the internet company, valued at about $376.41 million. The stock is now down by 0.64% this year after a recent slump. In the third quarter, Alphabet earned $9.06 per share, topping the consensus estimate of $8.64, while revenue was $22.25 billion for the quarter, also edging past the average estimate of $22.05 billion. Last month, Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein upped his price target on Alphabet to $1000 from $970 and reiterated an ‘Outperform’ rating on the company. Out of over 745 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 126 were long Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s class C shares at the end of June, down from 142 funds a quarter earlier.
Related Read: Top Google Searches in 2015
Follow Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Follow Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)
On the next page, we will discuss three other important stock picks held by Adage on September 30.
