Apple Inc (AAPL) Is Still A Hedge Fund Favorite

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been one of the three most popular stocks among hedge funds since we started tracking hedge fund transactions at the end of 2010 (see the 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds). During this time, the stock didn’t disappoint its investors and returned more than 100%. Recently Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) hit its all-time high of $680.87. Hedge funds recently disclosed their second quarter stock holdings. More than a third of the 400 hedge funds we are tracking still reported a long position in Apple. Rob Citrone has more than $1.1 billion invested in the stock. Billionaire hedge fund managers David Einhorn, Stephen Mandel, and Chase Coleman are among the bullish investors. Each of them has at least $800 million invested in the stock.

During the second quarter some well-known hedge fund managers initiated brand new positions in the stock. There are some interesting names in the list:

1. JAT Capital: John Thaler’s hedge fund also initiated a $287 million position.

2. Ivory Capital: Value investor Curtis Macnguyen is among the newly bullish hedge fund managers about Apple. The fund had $91 million in Apple at the end of June.

3. Kensico Capital: Michael Lowenstein initiated a $75 million position in the stock.

4. Tudor Investment Corp: Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones had a new $60 million position in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL).

5. MD Sass: Value investor Martin Sass joined 139 other hedge fund managers with a $40 million position.

6. 3G Capital: Billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann’s fund initiated a $22 million position.

Even though Apple is the most popular stock among hedge funds, the total value of hedge fund long positions in Apple was only $22 billion. This means hedge funds collectively own only about 4% of Apple’s outstanding shares. This is less than 3 days of trading (Apple’s daily trading volume is around $8 billion). This implies that Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is actually under owned by most hedge funds.