What World-Class Hedge Funds Think About 5 Morgan Stanley’s Top Growth Stocks Through 2019

First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC)

Nr. of Shares (as of December 31): 438,182

Value of Holding (as of December 31): $28.9 million

The popularity of First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) registered a slight boost during the fourth quarter, with 20 of the funds followed by Insider Monkey having indicated a stake in the company in their latest 13F filings, up from 17 at the end of September. In its latest 13F filing, Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management has indicated ownership of 423,543 shares, up by 1% for the quarter. Robert Joseph Caruso’s Select Equity Group reported a 2% decrease in its holding to 3.51 million shares by the end of December. Morgan Stanley analysts have placed an ‘Overweight’ rating on First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) and a price target of $75 per share. The company has recently issued its first quarter financial report, managing to surpass Wall Street’s expectations. First Republic Bank posted a profit of $0.88 per share on the back of $519.6 million, while analysts were looking for $529.2 million in revenues and earnings of $0.80 per share. The stock ended Friday’s trading session at $70.83 per share, up by 9% so far this year. The company has a market cap of $10.3 billion and pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share, which translates into a yield of 0.9%.

Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE)

Nr. of Shares (as of December 31): 14,084,729

Value of Holding (as of December 31): $880 million

At the end of December, Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) could be found in the portfolio of 63 funds among those we track, up from 59 a quarter earlier. Despite the large number, these funds held only 2.3% of the company’s outstanding stock. Alex Snow‘s Lansdowne Partners held more than 16.4 million shares of the sportswear company, up by 93% over the quarter. Lone Pine Capital, run by Stephen Mandel, has also reported a sizable position that amounted to 11.5 million shares, double the amount reported a quarter before. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) has a market cap of approximately $100 billion and pays an annual dividend of $0.6 per share, which represents a yield of 1%. The stock is currently trading at a trailing P/E ratio of 29, slightly higher than the industry average of 25.90.

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