Hedge Funds Were Right About These 5 Stocks in 2021

4. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 120  

Year-to-Date Gain in Share Price: 35%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is on track to become the first company in the world to cross $3 trillion in market capitalization. Heading into the new year, there is a consensus in investor circles and analysts alike that the company will achieve that milestone. Citi analyst Jim Suva recently raised the price target on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock to $200 from $170 and kept a Buy rating, underlining that the demand for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) products and services would remain resilient in 2022 with new launches adding to value for investors. 

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has also been in the news recently on the back of reports that it will launch an AR headset next year. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is also reportedly working on the development of driverless cars. As it invests in futuristic products, the demand for iPhones and MacBooks remains strong, and the company will likely grow revenues in 2022 compared to 2021 levels. 

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been a constant feature in the top picks of hedge funds for the past several years. At the end of the third quarter of 2021, 120 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $146 billion in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). 

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.”