Microsoft, Apple & Actavis Among Hedgies', Mutual Fund's Favorite Stocks - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Enact Holdings (NASDAQ:ACT)

In a report published Friday, Citigroup analyst Tobias Levkovich offered a glimpse in to what hedge funds and mutual funds are buying and how they are performing. According to Levkovich, the Equity Hedge Fund Index outperformed the S&P 500 for the first time in over two years. While the S&P 500 rose 11.4 percent in 2014, versus a 1.4 percent gain for the HFRX Equity Hedge index, the first quarter of 2015 saw a reversal as the HFRX index rose 2.2 percent versus the S&P 500's 0.4 percent return. Levkovich also broke down sector weights of the largest mutual funds and hedge funds as follows:

Sector Allocation Of The Largest 50 Mutual Funds

Consumer Discretionary – 18.2 percent.
Health Care – 17.5 percent.
Information Technology – 16.2 percent.
Industrials – 15.6 percent.
Financials – 13.0 percent.
Energy – 7.1 percent.
Consumer Staples – 5.2 percent.
Materials – 3.9 percent.
Utilities – 1.9 percent.
Telecommunication Services – 1.3 percent.

Sector Allocation Of The Largest 50 Hedge Funds

Information Technology – 17.2 percent.
Health Care – 16.0 percent.
Consumer Discretionary – 15.2 percent.
Financials – 13.3 percent.
Energy – 12.5 percent.
Industrials – 10.2 percent.
Consumer Staples – 7.8 percent.
Materials – 4.7 percent.
Utilities – 2.3 percent.
Telecommunication Services – 0.8 percent.

Top Fund Holdings

In terms of individual stocks,

Microsoft CorporationMSFT

held on to its title as the most widely held stock among the 50 largest mutual funds with 22 funds reporting a stake in the first quarter, up from 19 in the fourth quarter 2014.

Wells Fargo & CoWFC

and

JPMorgan Chase & Co.JPM

both ranked second with 18 funds reporting a stake in the quarter.

Google Inc

GOOGGOOGL

ranked third with 17 funds reporting a stake and outranked fourth place

Apple Inc.

AAPL

which was held by only 15 funds. The holdings of the top 50 largest hedge funds tell a different story. Apple tied for the largest held company among hedge funds with 16 funds reporting a stake in the first quarter, up from eight last quarter.

Actavis plcACT

was also held by 16 funds, up from 13 last quarter. Microsoft also ranked as a top five hedge fund holding with nine funds reporting a stake, good for third largest.

Time Warner Cable IncTWC

ranked fourth with eight funds holding shares while

Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl IncVRX

ranked fifth and was held by seven funds.

Average One-Year Beta

Levkovich noted that the average on-year beta of top holdings among mutual funds measured 1.04 in the first quarter of 2015, above the long-term average of 1.00. On the other hand, the beta of top hedge fund holdings during the first quarter measured 1.08, in line with its historical average.

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