May 16 (Bloomberg) -- D.E. Shaw & Co., a New York-based hedge fund firm, sold Apple Inc. shares in the first quarter and bought financial-services companies including Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Shaw cut the Apple stake by a third, or 2.4 million shares, according to a regulatory filing. The firm reduced its technology stock holdings by 1.3 percent.

The hedge fund manager increased its financial holdings 1.7 percent. The firm almost doubled its stake in Ameriprise, the brokerage firm spun off from American Express Co., to 4.95 million shares as of March 31. Shaw also boosted ownership in Archstone-Smith Trust, the second-largest U.S. apartment real estate investment trust, and AMR Corp.

Shaw, founded by David Shaw in 1988, oversees $29 billion in investment capital, according to its Web site. Shaw's 4.7 million Apple shares were valued at $431.7 million at the end of the first quarter.

The firm added to its stake in EMC Corp., the world's largest marker of data-storage computers and software. Shaw held 33.7 million shares as of March 31, an increase of about a third from the previous period.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew R. Miller in Atlanta at mmiller31@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 16, 2007 15:22 EDT