Apple Inc. (AAPL), Facebook Inc (FB), Google Inc (GOOG) ~ 3 Tech Stocks Hedge Funds Are Piling On

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) moves into second, surpassing Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) with 129 funds owning stakes in the social media giant as of March 31. That’s an increase from 118 at the end of 2014, while invested capital increased to $7.36 billion from $6.11 billion. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is one of the tech stocks that moved past Apple in Daniel Benton’s portfolio, while investing legend Julien Robertson recently gave a vote of confidence to Facebook as well, which he’s owned for over a year. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has failed to hit its stride in 2015, gaining just 3% so far following strong returns in 2013 and 2014. There are several near-term growth prospects for Facebook however that could suggest great upside potential for the stock, including the monetization of WhatsApp, the soon-to-be-released Oculus VR headset, and the company’s push into publishing with the purchase of Tugboat Yards. Mandel, Philippe Laffont and Donald Chiboucis are just some of the investors with large stakes in Facebook.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) drops to third among tech stocks, although its total ownership is harder to pin down given that the company’s stock is split into both Class A (GOOGL) and Class C (GOOG) shares, and there is overlap in the ownership of both classes of stock. Google’s Class A shares are owned by 121 funds, while its Class C shares are owned by 108 funds. That compares to 120 and 105 respectively at the end of 2014. The total invested capital among both classes of stock stands at $1.42 billion, an increase from $1.18 billion. While Facebook’s aforementioned move into publishing could most directly impact Google’s AdSense revenue, there is seemingly little cause for concern as Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s revenue continues to soar and it has built a dominant mobile infrastructure that will make it a leader in mobile advertising for years. Among other recent initiatives, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) will unveil a “Buy” button when mobile users search for products at qualified retailers who pay for Google Product Listing ads. So while Facebook is taking aim at Google, the search engine giant is taking aim at Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). Billionaires Mason Hawkins and Andreas Halvorsen are among the bullish investors of Google.

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