5 Most Widely Held Stocks by Individuals

This article presents an overview of the 5 Most Widely Held Stocks by Individuals. For a detailed overview of such stocks, read our article, 16 Most Widely Held Stocks by Individuals.

5. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 134

Morgan Stanley analysts led by Erik Woodring recently said in a note that Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) might be very close to launching exciting AI products and LLMs. The analyst cited an uptick in the number of AI-related job posts at Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL). Woodring said Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) has developed a technology to utilize NAND flash to power large language models. The analyst has an Overweight rating and a $220 price target on the stock.

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a famous stock among retail investors as well as hedge funds.

As of the end of the third quarter of 2023, 134 hedge funds out of the 910 funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL). The most significant stake in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway which owns a $157 billion stake in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL).

In its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter, ClearBridge Dividend Strategy stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL):

“We meaningfully reduced our exposure to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in 2023. Apple is the largest company in the world and produces terrific products that engage users for hours each day. Despite the company’s size, ubiquity and relevance, however, Apple’s growth has slowed dramatically. Its fiscal 2023 earnings were flat with those of 2022. Apple trades at 30x earnings; sustaining that multiple will require a meaningful acceleration in revenues. While such an improvement is possible, we do not see any obvious catalysts for adding tens of billions of dollars to Apple’s topline. Consequently, the risk-reward skews negatively.”