Investing Tip: Which funds own Google?

The latest from Morningstar Investment Research Center by Sumita Ghosh . . .

Stocks certainly grab headlines. Not a day goes by without a stock's price soaring--or plummeting-- due to an earnings surprise, merger, or new product development. As a result, investors are often curious about which mutual funds own a particular stock. Morningstar Investment Research Center can provide those answers.

To get a list of funds that own Google, for example, go to Morningstar Investment Research Center and type its ticker, GOOG, in the box on the home page. Our new Quote box features auto-fill, making it easy to find a particular investment.

Once you are at Google's report page you will see a tab called Insider Trading on the left navigation bar. Clicking on that link will direct you to the Insider Activity page. Once on that page, you will notice secondary navigation areas called Concentrated Fund Owners, Funds Buying, Funds Selling and Top Fund Owners. When you click on each of these tabs, you will see a list of funds that have Google in their portfolios, or those that have recently purchased more, or those that have recently sold Google shares.

For instance, if you look at the Top Fund Owners tab, you will see that American Funds Growth Fund of America owns more than 2% of Google's outstanding shares. If you click on Funds Buying, you will notice T. Rowe Price Growth Stock has recently increased its stake in Google's stock.

Why is this important or relevant to investors? It is crucial that investors know what their mutual funds hold and whether there is overlap between two or more funds and stocks. This will help them understand their exposure to certain sectors or countries, which allows investors to better balance their portfolios. In the above example, if an investor holds the fund, American Funds Growth Fund of America and also holds the stock Google, there is an apparent overlap.

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