The 20 stocks most widely held by hedge fund managers lagged the S&P 500 but beat the Nasdaq Composite in the third quarter. This high-profile list of stocks gained 3.4 percent in the September three-month period, compared with 5.25 percent for the diversified S&P 500 and 1.73 percent for the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
The stocks, as identified by SEI as of June 30, are heavily skewed toward the most high-profile tech stocks, several of which are among the Magnificent Seven, as well as health care, financials, and other industries.
Twelve of the 20 were in the green for the quarter, seven were down, and one was essentially flat.
Six of the profitable stocks rose by double-digit rates: UnitedHealth Group, up 14.8 percent; Facebook parent Meta Platforms, up 13.5 percent; Berkshire Hathaway, up 13.1 percent; Mastercard, up 11.9 percent; Johnson & Johnson, up 11 percent; and Apple, up 10.6 percent. All but two are non-tech stocks.
The three most popular hedge fund stocks — all Magnificent Seven members — lost money in the third quarter. Amazon and Microsoft both dropped nearly 9 percent.
Highflier Nvidia has also been on a bumpy road since peaking in July. But the AI chip giant, the sixth-most-popular hedge fund stock, was down only 1.7 percent for the quarter. Merck declined by 8.3 percent.
Here are the 20 most widely held stocks among hedge funds as of June 30, 2024, according to SEI, and how they performed in the third quarter.
UnitedHealth Group up 14.8 percent
Meta Platforms up 13.5
Berkshire Hathaway up 13.1
Mastercard up 11.9
Johnson & Johnson up 11.0
Apple up 10.6
Thermo Fisher Scientific up 8.6
Broadcom up 7.4
Visa up 4.8
JPMorgan Chase up 4.3
Uber Technologies up 3.4
ExxonMobil up 1.8
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing flat
Nvidia down 1.7
Eli Lilly down 2.2
Amazon down 3.7
Microsoft down 3.7
Merck down 8.3
Alphabet “C” down 8.8
Alphabet “A” down 8.9