The 5 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Going Into Q2

#3. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)

Occupying the third position on this list is Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), which witnessed a 12.3% surge in hedge fund support alongside a 9.02% rise in its stock price during the first quarter. As of March 31, 164 hedge funds in our system held 4.5% of the company’s float, or roughly $14.5 billion in stock. Facebook’s stock has continued to surge in the second quarter, posting returns of more than 4.5%, mostly on the back of a late April top and bottom-line beat; first quarter EPS of $0.77 and revenue of $5.38 billion were a hearty $0.15 and $120 million above estimates, respectively. Furthermore, a slew of analyst upgrades and price target increases have also helped to buoy the stock.

Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global acquired a massive new stake of 20.13 million shares of Facebook over the January-to-March period, amassing a position worth almost $2.3 billion by the end of the quarter, which vaulted Viking Global straight to the top of the charts in terms of shareholders that we track. Another big purchase was made by Alex Snow’s Lansdowne Partners; the British fund started a new position comprised of 3.71 million shares of the social media giant as of March 31.

#2. Allergan plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:AGN)

The runner-up and only non-tech stock in this list is Allergan plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:AGN), which counted the support of 170 funds in our database by the end of the first quarter, up by 13.2% from 159 at the end of 2015. The combined stakes of those 170 funds accounted for 19% of Allergan’s float as of March 31 and were valued at more than $20.1 billion. Earlier this week, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare granted Allergan a National Marketing Authorization to sell BOTOX Vista for the treatment of crow’s feet in adult patients, in the country. Meanwhile, the U.S FDA accepted Allergan’s NDA for oxymetazoline HCl cream 1.0% for review, a product for the potential treatment of a symptom associated with rosacea.

Allergan plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:AGN), which lost 14.23% during the first quarter, has continued to plummet in the second quarter, losing another 12.15%, taking its year-to-date decline down to 24.65%. Taking advantage of the tumbling share price, Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group initiated a new position in the company during the first quarter, of 1.72 million shares. The largest stake on March 31 was held by John Paulson’s Paulson & Co, and totaled 5.41 million shares.

#1. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)/(NASDAQ:GOOG)

Finally, there’s Alphabet, the most popular company among hedge funds, counting roughly 223 backers in our database. 155 funds among those we track were long Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s Class A stock, while 142 were long Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Class C stock, with 75 firms owning both classes of the company’s shares. The combined value of all of these stakes amounted to almost $30 billion on March 31. Shares of Alphabet, which lost almost 2% in the first quarter, are down by 2.3% in the second quarter, mostly on the back of a top and bottom-line miss. First quarter EPS of $7.50 missed estimates by $0.47, while revenue of $20.26 billion came in $110 million below the consensus estimate.

Among the main shareholders of Alphabet on march 31 was Viking Global, holding 2.05 million Class A shares worth roughly $1.56 billion and 1.05 million Class C shares worth about $786 million. Another large investor was Harris Associates, which declared holding 801,371 Class A shares, and 1.98 million Class C shares as of the end of March.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article.