Wall Street’s Biggest Investors Show Renewed Interest in Amazon, Alphabet, and Nvidia

Recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission shed light on a notable shift in investment strategies among Wall Street’s most prominent players. Many investors increased their holdings in tech companies like Nvidia (NVDA), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Alibaba (BABA) in the fourth quarter.

However, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) company broke from this trend. The conglomerate decreased its holdings in Apple (AAPL) and HP (HPE) while increasing its investments in oil majors Chevron (CVX) and Occidental Petroleum (OXY). Berkshire also made at least one additional hidden investment during this time.

The latest filings indicate a significant influx of investments into technology companies towards the end of 2023.

Hedge Fund Heavyweights Positions

The Michael Burry hedge fund Scion Capital upped its stakes in Alphabet and Amazon by 35,000 and 30,000 shares, respectively. The firm also increased its bets on Alibaba and JD.com, two of the biggest names in Chinese e-commerce. Similarly, other hedge funds expressed interest in Nvidia, the leading manufacturer of AI chips.

With the purchase of more than 220,000 shares, Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world, increased its holding in Nvidia by 458%. Additionally, it increased its position in Alphabet by more than 465,000 shares, making it the fund’s 12th-largest position as of December 2023. Bridgewater Associate also added a small stake in Apple.

Another hedge fund, AQR, saw a 22% increase in its stake in Nvidia but a 5% and 4% decline in its holdings in Apple and Microsoft, its two largest positions. In the meantime, Berkshire retained a sizeable interest of more than 950 million shares in Apple after selling just 1% of its holdings.

Amidst the debut of its ambitious Vision Pro headset, Apple faced obstacles at the beginning of 2024, including stock downgrades, significant revisions to its App Store policies, and the impending possibility of a potential antitrust lawsuit.

Founded by billionaire investor George Soros and currently run by his son, the Soros Fund is another prominent investor that cut its holdings in Apple during the fourth quarter.

Banking Sector Bets

Some Wall Street investors also made substantial bets in the banking industry. This was specifically in New York Community Bank (NYCB). Despite the bank’s recent difficulties, including a dividend reduction and the announcement on January 31 of a $252 million net quarterly loss, the Soros Fund raised its holdings in NYCB, and so did AQR and Millennium Management. What led to the decisions these funds made is still unknown.