Apple remains under-owned vs. peers, Meta still over-held - Morgan Stanley

Investing.com -- Apple remains the most under-owned mega-cap tech stock among large institutions, while Meta (NASDAQ: META) continues to be over-held, according to Morgan Stanley’s latest analysis of first-quarter 13-F filings.

Despite a modest narrowing in under-ownership across the sector, “AAPL remains the most under-owned large-cap tech stock we track,” the bank wrote.

The gap between Apple’s institutional ownership and its S&P 500 weighting is said to have narrowed by 17 basis points in the first quarter to -2.06%.

Morgan Stanley added that Apple’s active institutional portfolio weighting fell to 4.86%, while its S&P 500 weighting declined more steeply to 6.9%.

Overall, they note that the average under-ownership among mega-cap tech stocks improved slightly to -116 basis points in the first quarter, compared to -124 basis points in the previous quarter.

Still, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) (-2.02%), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) (-1.48%), and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) (-1.22%) remain the most under-owned, while Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) (+0.68%), Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) (+0.27%), and Dell (NYSE: DELL) (+0.22%) are the most over-owned, according to Morgan Stanley.

The bank also observed that “NVDA’s institutional ownership and S&P 500 weighting narrowed more than any other large-cap tech stock in 1Q,” improving by 38 basis points.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is said to have seen its under-ownership edge slightly wider.

Despite its under-ownership, Morgan Stanley remains overweight on Apple, citing a long-term bullish thesis. “

New form factors for the iPhone in the coming years should lead to meaningful upgrades... and replacement cycles that have never been as extended,” analysts wrote.

However, the bank warns that litigation risks, tariff uncertainties, and the lack of guidance for Services revenue in the June quarter could limit near-term upside. The firm maintained a price target of $235 on Overweight-rated Apple’s shares.

“Meta remains the most over-owned” stock in the group, according to Morgan Stanley, “ with a weighting 12bp above the S&P.”

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