Apple Inc. (AAPL) and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) Among Top Picks Of Billionaire David Harding

Harding also increased the stake of its second largest equity holding, Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE:EW), by 42% during the first quarter to 991,054 shares valued at $141.19 million. Advanced medical equipment manufacturer has a market cap of $14.13 billion and P/E ratio of 16.26. Shares of Edwards Life sciences Corp (NYSE:EW) returned 483.27% over the past decade which means average yearly return of 19.28%. For the first quarter of 2015 the company reported revenue of $590.30 million which represents growth rate of 12.9% as compared to revenue of $522.4 million for the same quarter in 2014. Excluding foreign exchange losses EW’s sales increased by 21% during the first quarter. Net income has increased to $123.4 million in the first quarter of 2015 from $60.3 million in the first quarter of 2014. David Blood and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management and Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management are the major shareholders of the company according to our database.

The third spot was taken by the $42.69 billion health insurance provider, Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM). Harding’s holding increased to 867,502 shares valued at $133.95 million, after buying an additional 347,345 shares of the company during the first quarter. The shares of the company returned 53.5% over the past 12 months like other health insurance companies which benefited from Obamacare. Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) has a P/E ratio of 16.7 which is less than industry average of 21.2. The company’s net profit margin is 3.64% compared to net profit margin of 3.2% for the industry. Larry Robbins’ Glenview Capital has increased his position in Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) to 4.89 million shares worth $755.62 million by purchasing 1.30 million shares in the first quarter of 2015.

Last but not least of Harding’s positions in this article is Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Winton Capital has bought 413,945 additional shares of Apple and increased its position to 931,261 shares worth $115.88 million at the end of the first quarter. According to recent report of UBS in this week, for the quarter ended with June the demand for iPhone will be 51.1 million units which are higher than the market estimate of 45 million units. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) which owns one of the most profitable businesses ever, continues to be one of the most favorite stock pick of hedge funds. More than 20% of hedge funds have reported an ownership stake in Apple at the end of first quarter of 2015.

Disclosure: None