Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), Citizens Financial Group Inc (CFG), Twitter Inc (TWTR): Hedge Funds Buying Up These Five Stocks

Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT) is the company that dethroned Apple from the top of the hedge fund ownership charts, as 157 funds reported ownership in the pharmaceutical giant at the end of the first quarter, up from 131 at the end of 2014. Apple meanwhile could only inch up to 150 from 149. Actavis also surpassed Apple in terms of invested capital (though it was not first in this regard) from the hedge funds we track, soaring to $21.97 billion from just $14.0 billion. Apple meanwhile inched up just 3% to $21.52 billion, despite its stock rising by 13% during the quarter (which means collectively, funds actually sold off some shares). Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT)’ completion of the acquisition of Allergan during the quarter certainly seems to be the biggest catalyst that brought new investors into the stock, as Allergan shareholders were given 0.3683 shares of Actavis for each share of Allergan they owned, in addition to a cash payment of $129.22 per share. While those new shareholders did not have to hold on to their positions, some clearly like the company with Allergan in the fold, including former top Allergan shareholder Bill Ackman of Pershing Square, who held on to 1.35 million shares of Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT), though he would have been granted approximately 9.81 million shares of Actavis through his former 26.64 million share position in Allergan.

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) lands in fourth place, with 64 funds reporting an aggregate of $1.75 billion invested in the social media company. That’s a big swing in momentum for Twitter, which previously had limited support from the funds in our database: at the end of 2014 just 42 funds had investments totaling $1.01 billion in the company. Like the final pick on our list, which we’ll get to, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) finally cashed in on some of its promise with its fourth quarter 2014 earnings, reporting revenue and earnings that eclipsed analyst estimates, which led to it being one of the top large-cap gainers of the first quarter. Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) also purchased Periscope, the replayable live-streaming app, during the quarter, which has proven to be a successful purchase and helped to generate additional interest in the social platform. However, Twitter’s most recent earnings report for the first quarter fell beneath revenue expectations and its own guidance, surely disappointing some of those new investors like billionaire Daniel Och’s OZ Management. Shares of Twitter have fallen by 26% in the second quarter.