NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Hedge fund Coatue

Management dissolved its stake in Apple Inc ( AAPL ) in the

first quarter while Viking Global Investors built a sizeable new

position, securities filings showed on Wednesday.

Coatue, founded by Philippe Laffont, had 2.4 million shares

of Apple ( AAPL ) in December, worth $470.6 million. Regulatory filings

showed it had dissolved that stake entirely by the end of March.

Apple's ( AAPL ) shares plunged almost 11% in the first quarter as

the company faced fiercer competition in China and falling

revenues. Shares in the iPhone maker have pared losses in the

second quarter and are now down 1.5% year to date.

Other big investors have cut their stakes in Apple ( AAPL ). Earlier

this month, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK/A ) said it

had trimmed its position by 13%. Still, Buffett praised the

company during Berkshire's annual meeting, saying the iPhone was

"one of the greatest products."

Coatue's filing also showed it reduced its stake in

chipmaking giant Nvidia ( NVDA ) by roughly 68% to 1.4 million

shares, or $1.2 billion. Year to date, shares in Nvidia ( NVDA ) are up

91%.

Coatue also trimmed its position in electric vehicle maker

Tesla by 37% to 2.6 million shares. The company's

shares are down almost 30% this year amid fierce competition and

slowing sales.

Coatue, however, more than doubled its holdings in

Google-parent Alphabet, to 5.7 million shares.

Conversely, Viking showed in the filing a new $663.8 million

stake in Apple ( AAPL ) and a similar position in Microsoft ( MSFT ).

The funds' positions were revealed in quarterly securities

fillings known as 13Fs. While backward looking, these snapshots

show what funds owned on the last day of the quarter and are one

of the few ways hedge funds and other institutional investors

have to declare their positions. The filings do not indicate

exact timing of purchases or sales and may not reflect current

holdings.

Both Coatue and Viking are so-called Tiger cubs, hedge funds

seeded by veteran investor Julian Robertson, founder of Tiger

Management.