Is it Wise to Still Buy Apple (AAPL) Shares?

Ariel Investments, an investment management firm, published its “Ariel Fund & Ariel Appreciation Fund” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. For the three months ending December 31, 2021, Ariel Fund and Ariel Appreciation Fund lagged their primary value benchmarks. This was largely due to some weakness among our highest conviction consumer names. Still, Ariel Appreciation Fund solidly outpaced its core benchmark during the quarter and landed between the value and core indices for the full year. Meanwhile, Ariel Fund crushed both its primary and secondary benchmarks for the year. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

Ariel Investments, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and discussed its stance on the firm. Founded in 1976, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a Cupertino, California-based technology company with a $2.6 trillion market capitalization, and is currently spearheaded by its CEO, Tim Cook. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) delivered a -6.86% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 34.96%. The stock closed at $165.38 per share on March 21, 2022.

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

“To give context to these returns, it is important to note there was inequity amongst equities. The tech giants continued their pursuit of world domination with a handful of names driving the S&P 500 to seventy(!) record highs. Dare we recall the “irrational exuberance” running rampant at the turn of the century? Yes, there was the ancillary contribution from a rebound among economically sensitive areas including Energy and Industrials, but like the late ‘90s, tech stocks reigned supreme. Just seven names now make up nearly a third of the index. The largest of all, Apple (AAPL), became the first company briefly dubbed a “3T”. (That’s a stock with a $3 trillion market cap.)”

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Our calculations show that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) ranks 9th on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was in 134 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 120 funds in the previous quarter. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) delivered a -4.40% return in the past 3 months.

Earlier this month, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in another article. You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.