Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) continues to lose charm among shareholders. It may still be the favorite pick of hedge funds, but some of the country’s largest mutual funds have been dumping Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares lately. The fifth largest US mutual fund, American Funds Growth Fund of America Class A (MUTF:AGTHX) cut its stake in the iPhone maker during the first quarter.
The $119 billion fund reduced its holding in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) from 1.9 million shares at the end of 2012 to 1.46 million shares by the end of March 31, 3013. Apple stock now accounts for just 0.54 percent of American Funds Growth Fund of America Class A (MUTF:AGTHX)’s total investments, down from 4.2 percent not too long ago, reports Brandon Conway of Barrons. American Funds Growth Fund of America Class A (MUTF:AGTHX) had already sold $3 billion worth of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares in 4Q 2012. As of August 31, 2012, the American Funds Growth Fund of America Class A (MUTF:AGTHX) owned over seven million shares of Apple, worth $4.8 billion. But it reduced its holding to less than 1 percent or 1.9 million shares by the end of December 2012.
Growth Fund’s selling took place when Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) share prices swung from highs of near $700 to lows of $505. In fact, American Funds Growth Fund of America Class A (MUTF:AGTHX) is not the only mutual fund to dump Apple stock. Fidelity Contrafund disclosed today that it has reduced its holding in the Cupertino, California-based company by 12 percent or about one million shares. Fidelity Contrafund Fund (MUTF:FCNTX) is now invests only 4.9 percent in Apple stock, down from 7.3 percent as of December 31, 2012.
However, the decline in Fidelity Contrafund Fund (MUTF:FCNTX)’s weighting is not just because of share dumping. It was also due to a fall in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) share prices. The stock is down about 18 percent this year so far. To boost shareholders’ confidence in the company, Apple Inc. yesterday announced that it will issue corporate bonds to raise about $17 billion in debts. The company has decided to return $100 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares were down 0.74 percent to $439.28 at 3:20 PM EDT.
