American International Group Inc (AIG), Citigroup Inc. (C) & JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Lead The Most Popular Financial Stocks In The Hedge Fund Industry

57 funds and other investors had Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in their portfolio at the end of June, placing the pure-play investment bank behind its integrated peers. Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management was buying Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) during Q2 (check out more stocks Asness liked).

Metlife Inc (NYSE:MET) marks the second and last insurer on this top ten list. As with American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG), the stock trades below book value and the forward P/E is fairly low. Viking Global, managed by billionaire Andreas Halvorsen, initiated a position between April and June (see more of Halvorsen’s stock picks).

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)’s popularity fell from 61 funds at the end of March to 49 funds three months later. In addition, may shareholders such as billionaire Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates reduced the size of their position. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is another bank dependent on cost cutting to improve shareholder value.

In contrast, hedge funds were piling into real estate broker and brokerage franchisor Realogy Holdings Corp (NYSE:RLGY), likely seeing it as a way to play a prospering housing market. Multiple Tiger Cub funds, including billionaire Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, were buying (here are more of Mandel’s picks).

Finishing off our list is $68 billion market cap retail and commercial bank U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB). Without as much exposure to the investment bank business, recent results have been about flat though the trailing and forward P/Es are only 13 and 12 respectively.

Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.