Apple remains institutional investors' most-loved stock with $383B in holdings
Hedge funds, mutual funds, and other large investors continue to make Apple a core component of their portfolios, with over 2,000 individual funds holding shares worth more than $380 billion at the close of 2014, by far the most for any U.S. company.
Apple beat on-and-off rival Microsoft by over $100 billion to take the top slot in the fourth quarter, according to regulatory filing data collated by fund tracking site Whale Wisdom. No other pure technology companies found themselves in the top 10 institutional holdings by value, though chipmaker Intel was the tenth-most widely held issue.
Overall, the number of aggregate Apple shares held by institutional investors dipped by 1.77 percent from the previous quarter. 212 funds entered new Apple positions, 799 added to their existing positions, 1,004 reduced their positions, and 67 closed out their positions entirely.
The Vanguard Group -- the largest investment management firm in the world, with more than $3 trillion in assets -- remained Apple's largest shareholder, adding more than 5 million shares during the period to finish with a $37 billion position.
As noted by Fortune's Philip Elmer-Dewitt, nearly half of the total value is held by just 12 funds. Among that group is activist investor Carl Icahn, who recently upped his Apple valuation to $216 per share, a price that would give the company a market cap of more than $1 trillion.
Swedish bank Swedbank was the largest buyer of Apple stock in the quarter, picking up 9.5 million shares, nearly twice as many as second-place Blackrock Fund Advisors. Capital Research Global Investors led the sellers, shedding 28.5 million shares.
Apple beat on-and-off rival Microsoft by over $100 billion to take the top slot in the fourth quarter, according to regulatory filing data collated by fund tracking site Whale Wisdom. No other pure technology companies found themselves in the top 10 institutional holdings by value, though chipmaker Intel was the tenth-most widely held issue.
Overall, the number of aggregate Apple shares held by institutional investors dipped by 1.77 percent from the previous quarter. 212 funds entered new Apple positions, 799 added to their existing positions, 1,004 reduced their positions, and 67 closed out their positions entirely.
The Vanguard Group -- the largest investment management firm in the world, with more than $3 trillion in assets -- remained Apple's largest shareholder, adding more than 5 million shares during the period to finish with a $37 billion position.
As noted by Fortune's Philip Elmer-Dewitt, nearly half of the total value is held by just 12 funds. Among that group is activist investor Carl Icahn, who recently upped his Apple valuation to $216 per share, a price that would give the company a market cap of more than $1 trillion.
Swedish bank Swedbank was the largest buyer of Apple stock in the quarter, picking up 9.5 million shares, nearly twice as many as second-place Blackrock Fund Advisors. Capital Research Global Investors led the sellers, shedding 28.5 million shares.
Comments
Given that Apple has the highest market cap of any company it is obvious that if an institution wants to hold a certain percentage of Apple then that position is going to be worth more than for other company positions it holds.
It is also no surprise that institutions are increasing their positions given the uptrend on Apple's stock price of late and the recent analyst upgrades.
Given that Apple has the highest market cap of any company it is obvious that if an institution wants to hold a certain percentage of Apple then that position is going to be worth more than for other company positions it holds.
It is also no surprise that institutions are increasing their positions given the uptrend on Apple's stock price of late and the recent analyst upgrades.
I suppose since the stock once again hit an all-time high today.
:???:
1) How is savvy investing a waste of time and money?
2) Where should I invest my savings if not into companies I believe have a bright future?
Therefore, it is hard not see these investors as more of a problem for Apple and it real investors than a vindication of Apple.
Sorry you are wrong.
The price dropped in late 2013/ early 2013 because profit growth SLOWED DOWN and then DECLINED. Prior to that Apple was growing profits 50% YoY. It slowed down to below 30% in the Sept2012 Qtr and then 0% in Dec2012 Qtr. Then in Mar2013 Qtr profit growth went NEGATIVE.
Because of this a ton of GROWTH investors exited the stock.
Now growth is back. Last quarter earnings was up 38%.
Yes, that analysis works for AMZN too... wait...
I think your view is partially correct and needs to include sentiment and the usual crooked WS manipulation.
I'm guessing he meant buy the stocks... Not funds... So you avoid the annual fees.
That's what I do, but a lot people don't have that option in their 401ks
Funds investing is a waste of your time and money.
"Funds"? What do you mean by "funds"? Stocks? Mutual funds?
I'm guessing he meant buy the stocks... Not funds... So you avoid the annual fees.
There are no-load mutual funds, index funds, DRIPs and other ways to invest also... however, I just like buying AAPL directly.
even no-load mutual funds have MASSIVE FEES. Usually about 2-3% a year.
Index funds is where you should put your money if you are investing 10-30 years.
As I said, I just prefer buying AAPL and not selling.
Uh. so 100% of your retirement is in AAPL? pretty scary.
Where did I write that? I have a diverse stock portfolio, even though much of it is devoted to AAPL. Apple isn't done yet. With Apple Pay, they are just getting started.
Where is the damn Japanese bank that downgraded Apple last month? AAPL appreciateed almost 20% since. What a joke! Thanks to that downgrade which made me bet against it by buying 200 shares. Now i'm making $4000 out of it.
Smart move.
What a joke Wall Street is.
They actually DECREASED their holdings in Apple (less shares owned by 1.77%).
The reason is simple. Fund managers always liquidate appreciated positions at the end of the year, and AAPL was up significantly in 2014. They use those realized gains to 1. show their clients how smart they are, and 2. guarantee an enormous year end bonus for themselves.
This practice also has the added benefit of exerting downward pressure on the equity, meaning they can establish the same exact positions again a few days or weeks later, only cheaper. SEC regulations don't require disclosing those transactions for months.
Think you're being manipulated? Of course you are.
These investors are not really investors, but speculators. The unreasonable drop in Apple stock prices in 2012/2013 were leg by the companies and they will do the same again. Apple did not change its strategy, remained enormously profitable, gobble up profits, etc., while its competitors focused on share and driving the profits and ASP into the ground.
Therefore, it is hard not see these investors as more of a problem for Apple and it real investors than a vindication of Apple.
I had thought it was mostly the hedge funds who are vultures and not other institutional investors who I thought were made up of very conservative groups of investors for pensions and mutual funds. I thought those large sell-offs were led by the super-slick hedge fund managers who appear to have no interest in any companies but only how quickly they can make money for themselves at any cost. I agree that Apple hasn't fundamentally changed for a number of years and yet the price had dropped to such a low point it would make most anyone who thought Apple was a good investment go running for the hills.
I was really wrong in thinking institutional fund managers weren't interested in owning Apple because Apple's institutional ownership hasn't risen much beyond 62% while Cisco, Google and Microsoft have institutional ownership in the 70% range. Heck, Netflix has 89% institutional ownership, so I figured the institutions were staying away from Apple in droves. I guess it's just my lack of understanding of how these things work. Maybe I should be careful about what I'm asking for if I don't fully understand the situation. I just thought there was conservative funds and the risky funds and I thought maybe Apple simply drew the wrong type of large investors.
I know I'm glad a lot of those hedge fund managers got burned when they dumped Apple in favor of Google and Samsung. Well, at least I think they did if they took their money and put it into Apple competitor companies. They were just so damn sure Apple was done for in 2012 and 2013 and I consider them the greediest rats of the worst sort. As they sold Apple and drove the price down, I bought Apple so it's their loss and not mine.
What a joke Wall Street is.
They actually DECREASED their holdings in Apple (less shares owned by 1.77%).
Their loss since the stock is UP 17% since the end of 2014.
Still don't understand why Wall Street only owns 62% of Apple, yet the love Google so much they own 83% of it.
This is an example of the private investor outsmarting Wall Street
Yes, this is something I totally don't understand. What is it they so that's so great in Google? It has to be because Google doesn't have much in the way of competition except Yahoo and Bing. I think if Apple really wanted to get serious about building an exclusive search engine for its own products, they'd send Google's revenue into a tail spin. I'd hardly think Wall Street is going to be fooled by Android's market share anymore. That's just a bottomless money pit for any Android manufacturers. There's no profits to be had in Android and I doubt there ever will be. Wall Street's love for companies with huge amounts of market share is just ridiculous. That's all they seem to think about.
What a joke Wall Street is.
They actually DECREASED their holdings in Apple (less shares owned by 1.77%).
Their loss since the stock is UP 17% since the end of 2014.
Still don't understand why Wall Street only owns 62% of Apple, yet the love Google so much they own 83% of it.
This is an example of the private investor outsmarting Wall Street
Oops, sorry. Double post
On our way to $1 trillion by May.
At market close today Apple is worth slightly over $.75 Trillion dollars. Apple is now worth over twice as much as Microsoft and Google COMBINED.
Just had to get that off my chest
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