Hedge Funds are Selling Microsoft and Buying These 5 Tech Stocks Instead

3. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 138   

Number of Hedge Fund Holders in Q1: 127

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a California-based technology firm that makes and sells mobile phones, software services, and computers. It is ranked third on our list of 10 tech stocks hedge funds are buying instead of Microsoft.

On September 22, investment advisory Tigress Financial maintained a Strong Buy rating on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock and raised the price target to $198 from $182, noting that strong product demand and new product introductions would drive revenue for the firm.

At the end of the second quarter of 2021, 138 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $145 billion in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), up from 127 in the preceding quarter worth $131 billion.

In its Q1 2021 investor letter, Distillate Capital, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Apple is an even more notable situation and one that highlights our free cash valuation methodology and bears further discussion given its Q3 ‘20 sale from our strategy. For an extended period, Apple was extraordinarily inexpensive on a free cash flow basis and was the largest position in our strategy, exceeding 5% of the portfolio.”