We recently published a list of 15 Most Crowded Hedge Fund Stocks That Are Targeted by Short Sellers. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE:APO) stands against other most crowded hedge fund stocks that are targeted by short sellers.

Hedge funds piling into a stock is a signal of conviction. After all, if institutional investors are backing a company, there has to be a good reason for it, right?

Things get interesting when the same stock ends up with a high short interest. Where some investors back the company to become successful, others bet on its downfall. This contradiction is often eagerly tracked by investors, as it can potentially lead to explosive moves to either side.

Consider, for instance, a scenario where a stock with a high short interest and a high hedge fund holding starts going up. As everyone rushes to buy more of the already popular stock, short sellers rush to close their positions, triggering a strong bull rally.

We decided to shortlist stocks that were the most likely candidates for such a rally. To come up with our list of 15 most crowded hedge fund stocks that are targeted by short sellers, we only considered stocks with a market cap of at least $1 billion and a short interest of at least 3%. We then ranked these stocks by the number of hedge funds that have the stock in their portfolio.Is Apollo Global Management, Inc. (APO) The Most Crowded Hedge Fund Stock That is Targeted by Short Sellers?

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Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE:APO)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 90

Short Interest:  5.29%

Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE:APO) operates as a private equity firm. It focuses on investments in infrastructure, credit, private equity, secondaries, and real estate markets. According to a recent deal, the company plans to acquire Hav Energy LNG Holding AS, a maritime liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure platform. The financial details of this deal were not released.

JPMorgan recently maintained its Overweight rating on the stock after the release of its first quarter 2025 earnings. However, the firm lowered its price target from $161 to $151 due to the company’s lower-than-expected financial results.

Chairman and CEO Marc Rowan highlighted:

“In Asset Management, we generated record organic inflows, strong origination volume, and delivered solid investment performance across all major strategies. In Retirement Services, consistent with our longstanding approach of positioning the business to seize opportunity, we accelerated new business growth and invested conservatively to be able to redeploy into widening spreads.”

Story Continues

Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) maintained its 2025 guidance, indicating mid-single-digit growth for spread-related earnings (SRE) and a 15% to 20% increase for FRE. With a significant $64 billion in dry powder, the firm is poised to deploy capital and boost future growth through proprietary origination.

Overall, APO ranks 3rd on our list of most crowded hedge fund stocks that are targeted by short sellers. While we acknowledge the potential of APO as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than APO but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

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