5 Most Popular Tech Stocks Among Hedge Funds: Google Inc, Facebook Inc, Microsoft Corporation

3. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) climbs into third place after not making the top five on our last list, with 16% ownership at the end of the 2014, compared to 15.3% ownership at the end of the third quarter. Facebook shares have mostly stalled after a torrid 8-month run from the middle of 2013 to early 2014 that saw the stock gain more than 150%. Facebook is up about 10% since then, though down 1.68% in 2015. While the social media giant has had positive earnings reports, there is concern over the stagnating user growth, which has left analysts and investors mixed on its potential. Stephen Mandel, and David E. Shaw both made big increases to their positions, while John Griffin opened a new position with 3.24 million shares. On the other hand, both Andreas Halvorsen and David Tepper sold off their entire stakes.

4. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is fourth among tech stocks, though fund ownership has decreased to 15.5% from 17.5%. After remaining mostly stagnant for the better part of a decade, Microsoft has enjoyed a strong two-year run, thanks in part to activist investor Jeffrey Ubben, who took a position in early 2013 and began to extol the virtues of the company which had previously been ignored. Ubben remains confident in its new direction, and maintains a stable of 74.24 million shares, while Ken Griffin and Israel Englander were both bullish on Microsoft in the fourth quarter. On the other hand, Lone Pine’s Stephen Mandel sold 16.88 of his 23.34 million shares last quarter.

5. Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) may be the least recognizable name on the list, but it’s a tech stock our funds have loved for awhile, and it also placed sixth at the close of the third quarter. Fund ownership has decreased however, down to 15.3% from 16.1%. Like Microsoft, Micron has enjoyed a very strong two-year run, up over 400%, and investors may feel the ride has reached its zenith. Point State Capital’s Zach Schreiber and Oz Management’s Daniel S. Och added a large number of shares to their positions in the fourth quarter, while Seth Klarman sold 31.95 million shares of what had been his largest position since late 2013.

There you have it, the top five tech stocks our tracked funds loved heading into 2015. Note that only one tech stock fell out of the top five from our list last quarter, which was Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), which has proven to be fortuitous for those funds that got out, as Alibaba is having a horrendous 2015 thus far, down 16.55% year-to-date.

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