Beech Hill Advisors’ Top Stock Picks for Q3; Apple Inc. (AAPL) Leads the Pack

#3. Welltower Inc. (NYSE:HCN)

 – Shares Owned by Beech Hill Advisors LP (as of June 30): 85,905

 – Value of Beech Hill Advisors LP’s Holding (as of June 30): $6.54 Million

Beech Hill Advisors LP also reduced the size of its Welltower Inc. (NYSE:HCN) holding during the three months that ended June 30, by 6%, ending the June quarter with 85,905 shares valued at $6.54 million. The real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns senior housing and post-acute communities and outpatient medical properties has seen its market value jump by 13% in 2016. Investors are constantly on the lookout for income-paying stocks and REIT’s such as Welltower offer attractive yields for investors amid a prolonged period of extremely low interest rates. Earlier this year, Welltower’s Board increased the annual cash dividend that the company pays to $3.44 per share from $3.30 per share paid in 2015. The increased dividend payment provides a yield of 4.46% annually. The quarterly dividend paid for the first quarter represents the REIT’s 180^th consecutive quarterly dividend payment. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies LLC was the owner of 2.47 million shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:HCN) at the end of March.

#2. Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)

 – Shares Owned by Beech Hill Advisors LP (as of June 30): 62,641

 – Value of Beech Hill Advisors LP’s Holding (as of June 30): $7.16 Million

The hedge fund firm overseen by Paul Cantor and his team had 62,641 shares of Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) in its portfolio at the end of the April-to-June quarter, 3,275 shares less than at the end of the prior quarter. The reduced stake was worth $7.16 million at the end of June. The social networking giant’s advertising revenue increased by a whopping 57% in the first quarter of 2016 to $5.2 billion, and Facebook can keep improving the monetization of its massive user base. Facebook is also one of the leading players in the multi-billion-dollar virtual reality industry after the company bought Oculus VR for more than $2 billion in March 2014. While some investors worry that Facebook may fail to keep user engagement levels up long-term, the potential of the company’s Oculus Rift VR headset has the potential to offset some of those worries, providing a new way for people to communicate. Facebook shares are 14% in the green year-to-date. Ray Carroll’s Breton Hill Capital acquired a new stake of 12,701 shares of Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) during the second quarter.

#1. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

 – Shares Owned by Beech Hill Advisors LP (as of June 30): 85,724

 – Value of Beech Hill Advisors LP’s Holding (as of June 30): $8.20 Million

A position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the largest holding in Beech Hill Advisors’ portfolio at the end of the June quarter, accounting for 5.5% of its value. The New York-based asset manager upped its Apple position by 1,415 shares during the second quarter to 85,724 shares, which were valued at $8.20 million on June 30. The world’s most valuable company has lost 5% of its market value since the beginning of the year. Although investors are worried that the iPhone maker will fail to grow its consumer base in the near future, Apple could squeeze more money out of each consumer by offering more Apple-related services. Indeed, Apple has an extremely huge and valuable consumer base, which will likely keep upgrading to newer products and continue spending more on services. However, the Cupertino-based company’s rumored iPhone 7 is not likely to attract the much-needed demand needed to revitalize declining iPhone unit sales, as an upgraded camera is one of the few features that might spur demand for the upcoming handsets. Fisher Asset Management owns 11.31 million shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as of the end of the second quarter.

Disclosure: None