What is Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s Secret Hedge Fund Buying?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has a pile of cash nearly $120 billion high. Naturally, the tech giant invests most of this fortune, and according to Zero Hedge, Nevada-based Braeburn Capital is the asset manager of choice. In its feature on the fund, Zero Hedge discusses Braeburn’s AUM figures quite heavily, but mentions that “there is no breakdown of which ‘public equity market’ investments Braeburn is invested in.”

In an insightful piece by Forbes‘s Tim Worstall, it is mentioned that Apple does indeed disclose how its cash is invested – it’s buried in the company’s yearly 10K. In Worstall’s original piece, he mentions how Apple’s cash was invested at the end of FY2011, but we thought we’d update this analysis for FY2012.

*Data compiled via Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s 10-K

**Dollar amounts in billions, rounded to the nearest hundred million

So, as we can see, the total size of Apple’s investable portfolio increased by nearly 50% over the past year, and these gains were primarily stashed in Treasuries, MBS and other asset-backed securities, agency securities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and corporate securities.

While we can’t see the specific equities Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is invested in, we can see that its stake in the latter increased by 31.5% over the past year or $11.1 billion in absolute terms. This was the most bullish move for the company, though it also made smaller, larger changes percentage-wise, in its muni and mutual fund investments.

So what does this mean for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) investors?

With all of that cash on its balance sheet, investors have to be hoping for a dividend increase from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) next year, especially since the company chose to forgo a special outlay as we approach the fiscal cliff.

As Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster has said before, it’s easy to expect a dividend hike from Apple, assuming that it doesn’t complete any major acquisitions in the near term. With a payout ratio of close to 20%, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is slightly less generous than key competitors like Microsoft and Cisco, who pay out 32% and 29% of their cash as dividends.

Judging by Apple’s relatively balanced portfolio, it will be in an excellent position to boost dividends next year if it so chooses; let us know your thoughts on this topic in the comments section below. For more Apple coverage, continue reading here:

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