Q1 2019 Hedge Fund Holdings: Top Stocks, New Buys & More

After experiencing a 5.7% loss in 2018, hedge funds have started to rebound, experiencing their best first quarter in 13 years. Total hedge fund capital stands at $3.18 trillion. To put that in perspective, only four countries, including the U.S., have a GDP higher than that. Furthermore, the median yearly earning for a hedge fund manager is now just under $350,000, but there are many who are billionaires.

So it makes sense that people pay attention to what they’re buying, selling and holding. We want to replicate their success. Hedge funds’ quarterly public disclosures, mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, give us a window into their recent activity.

To help investors make informed decisions about where to put their money, WalletHub analyzed the filings of over 400 top hedge funds, identifying their biggest holdings, new positions, recent exits and more. You can check it all out below, including a breakdown of the names that billionaire stock pickers – from Warren Buffett to George Soros – prefer these days.

25 Most Popular Hedge Fund Stocks

Rank	Name of the Company	Ticker	Change from Last Quarter
1.	Microsoft Corp.	MSFT	---
2.	Amazon.com, Inc.	AMZN	---
3.	Facebook, Inc.	FB	↗
4.	Apple, Inc.	AAPL	↙
5.	Visa, Inc.	V	↗
6.	Alphabet, Inc.	GOOG	↙
7.	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	JPM	↗
8.	UnitedHealth Group, Inc.	UNH	↙
9.	Bank of America Corp.	BAC	---
10.	Mastercard, Inc.	MA	↗
11.	Wells Fargo & Co.	WFC	↙
12.	Comcast Corp.	CMCSA	↗
13.	Netflix, Inc.	NFLX	↙
14.	The Coca-Cola Company	KO	↗
15.	American Express Company	AXP	↗
16.	Adobe Systems, Inc.	ADBE	---
17.	Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	---
18.	The Home Depot, Inc.	HD	↗
19.	Verizon Communications, Inc.	VZ	↗
20.	The Boeing Company	BA	↙
21.	salesforce.com, Inc.	CRM	↙
22.	Merck & Co., Inc.	MRK	↙
23.	Pfizer, Inc.	PFE	↗
24.	Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.	TMO	---
25.	Citigroup, Inc.	C	↙

 

Top Billionaire Stock Picks

Hedge funds have become so popular that the billionaires behind them have celebrity status. Not only are they rich and famous, but they can move markets with just a few words. Investors worldwide follow their every move.

If you, too, are curious to see how billionaire investors such as Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman are making their money these days, just check out the following infographic. You’ll find the top three holdings of 12 big-name billionaires, plus an overview of the stocks they’ve been buying and selling lately.

 

 

Hedge Fund Holdings by Sector

Diversification is key to investing success. That’s because spreading your chips around reduces risk and allows you to benefit from the broader market’s long-term upward trend. That’s why even the world’s best investors hedge their bets by allocating capital to various segments of the economy.

The investments don’t simply match the economy’s makeup, however. And they’re not always the same year to year, either. That’s why we can learn a lot from the way in which hedge funds diversify their investments. With that in mind, here’s a breakdown of where the money was during Q1 2019.

 

Ask the Experts: What Can We Learn From Hedge Funds?

In search of advice on how much stock we should put into billionaires’ stock picks, WalletHub asked the following questions to a panel of investing experts. You can check out their bios and responses below.

1. How will the recent trade negotiations between U.S. and China impact stock prices in the short and long run?
2. Is the current stock market prone for a correction or is there still room for growth?
3. What tips do you have for an individual investor? What sectors are expected to grow the most in the coming years?
4. How will new tech IPOs, like Lyft or Pinster, impact the overall stock market performance?

Methodology

This report is based on information from the latest public disclosures (Form 13F-HR for Q1 2019 and SC amendments from April 1 to May 15) for over 400 of the largest U.S. hedge funds. Data refer only to equities (i.e. not American Depository Receipts, Global Depository Receipts, Notes, Bonds or any other type of tradable securities).

To construct the “Most Popular Stocks” list, we looked at each of the over 400 funds’ positions, added up the positions for the same stock and rank-ordered the stocks by their total holdings value.

To calculate the “Sector Breakdown” of the positions held by the tracked hedge funds, we added up all the positions of the hedge funds from the same sector and then divided by the total amount of the hedge funds’ positions.

Report Disclaimer: The information on this web page is provided as general and impersonalized investment information and is not a recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell any security. Please obtain additional appropriate professional advice as needed in making any investment decisions. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Image: Vintage Tone / Shutterstock.com

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