In this article, we will take a look at the 13 best most active stocks to buy now. To skip our analysis of the recent trends, and market activity, you can go directly to see the 5 Best Most Active Stocks to Buy Now.
The stocks markets have been through the wringer in the recent past following the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Supply chain disruptions and other issues caused by these major events in the global arena led to inflationary pressures across the world which demanded strong monetary policy measures from governments. Rising interest rates put a dampener on the stock markets which led to one of the worst years in 2022 for the equity markets since 2008.
Of the three major U.S. stock indices, NASDAQ 100 fared the worst, declining more than 30% in 2022 as shareholders withdrew from growth firms due to escalating fears of a recession. You can read more about this in our last episode of the 12 best most active stocks to buy now, published in late December.
The indices have since recovered most of their losses in 2023 as interest rate increases have slowed down and fears of a hard landing have tapered off. The NASDAQ 100 index is at the forefront of the stock market recovery as the index is already 39% up year-to-date with multiple constituents of the index benefiting from the AI boom. The chipmaker NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI revolution and has seen a massive 195% surge in its share prices year-to-date, surpassing the trillion dollar mark for market capitalization.
The sentiment in the stock markets also turned bullish on July 12 following the release of latest CPI figures which proved to be better than expectations. In June, the CPI rose 3% y-o-y as compared to an expectation of a 3.1% increase. Similarly, core CPI and month-over-month CPI increase, which rose 0.2%, also increased less than the forecasts.
Our list of 13 best most active stocks to buy now includes some of the most notable names in the stock markets and includes several trillion dollar companies. The shares of these companies have benefited from multiple factors recently, including cost cutting measures, AI revolution, and macroeconomic factors such as slowdown in interest rate increases, among others.
Our list includes leading companies including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), among others.
We first identified the 50 most actively traded mid and large-cap stocks over the last three months and then picked the top 13 of these according to Insider Monkey’s proprietary hedge fund sentiment data. The hedge fund sentiment is based on Insider Monkey’s database of 943 funds as of Q1 2023. These stocks have been ranked according to the average trading volume over the last three months.
Average 3-month Volume: 17.40 million
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 103
San Jose, California-based PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) is a technology company focused on the development of digital payments platforms. Its digital payment solutions including PayPal, PayPal Credit, Braintree, Venmo, Xoom, and Paydiant, among others, allow merchants and consumers across the world to connect, transact and complete payments through online platforms or cards. During Q1 2023, the platforms boasted 433 million active consumer and merchant accounts with $354 billion of total payment volume in the quarter.
On June 20, PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) announced that it had entered into an exclusive multi-year agreement with leading global investment firm, KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR). As per the agreement, private credit funds and accounts managed by KKR will purchase up to €40 billion of eligible current and future PayPal Pay Later loans originated in Europe.
As of Q1 2023, PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) shares were held by 103 of the 943 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at $3.7 billion. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management was the largest shareholder on record with ownership of 14.0 million shares valued at $1.1 billion.
Average 3-month Volume: 19.76 million
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 128
Hangzhou, China-based Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) is a leading ecommerce company with businesses comprising China commerce, international commerce, local consumer services, logistics services, cloud, digital media and entertainment, innovation initiatives and others. Its consumer facing businesses in China have combined annual active consumers of more than 1 billion.
On March 28, Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) announced a new organizational and governance structure for the company under which the company will be divided into six major business groups with independent CEOs and board of directors. Five of the business groups will have the flexibility to seek their own IPOs while the sixth business group, Taobao & Tmall Group, will remain fully owned by the company.
The Board of Directors of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) has initially approved four major transactions as part of the restructuring process: a full spin-off of the Cloud Intelligence Group via a stock dividend distribution, external capital raise for Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, IPO of Cainiao Smart Logistics, and the IPO of Freshippo (Hema). The transactions are expected to be completed in the next 6 to 18 months.
As of Q1 2023, 128 of the 943 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) shares, for a total value of $5.9 billion.
Average 3-month Volume: 21.35 million
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 78
San Francisco, California-based Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is a leading financial services company that provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance services. It holds nearly $1.9 trillion in assets and is one of the leading financial services providers in the United States.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) announced on June 30 that it expects to increase its quarterly dividend payment for the third quarter by 16.7% to $0.35 per share from $0.30, subject to approval from the Board of Directors. The increase in dividend would translate to a dividend yield of 3.04% based on the share price on July 6.
On July 3, Raymond James analyst David Long raised the price target on Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) shares to $51 from $48 and maintained a ‘Strong Buy’ rating for the shares.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) are the only two financial services companies that have made it onto our list of 13 best most active stocks to buy now. The shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) were owned by 78 prominent hedge funds as of March 31, with the aggregate shares held by these hedge funds valued at $4.2 billion.
Average 3-month Volume: 23.32 million
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 220
Menlo Park, California-based Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a technology conglomerate focused on building products and services that help people connect and communicate. Formerly known as Facebook, Inc., the tech conglomerate reports its business under two segments: Family of Apps – comprising social media web and smartphone apps Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp; and Reality Labs – comprising augmented and virtual reality products including hardware, software, and content.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) ranks third on our list of 13 best most active stocks to buy now based on the number of hedge funds holding its shares as of March 31, 2023. The shares of the social media giant were owned by 220 hedge funds with a total value of $25.1 billion.
Here is what RiverPark Advisors, an investment advisory firm, said about Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“META owns multiple social media platforms, each with more than one billion users, has an 80% gross margin, and generated $39 billion of FCF in 2021. Both its Facebook and its Instagram franchises have more than 2 billion Daily Active Users and generate the bulk of the company’s revenue, while its Messenger and WhatsApp platforms are lightly monetized, as are new initiatives, such as its Shops ecommerce storefront for SMBs, all providing long-term tailwinds. After its advance, META shares trade at 17x its depressed 2024 EPS, yet we believe the outlook for the core business and Reality Labs will look much different in 12 months.”
Average 3-month Volume: 24.04 million
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 144
San Francisco, California-based, Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) provides technology platforms matching consumers looking for rides and independent ride services providers. It also offers other forms of transportation including public transit, bikes, and scooters. Other offerings include food delivery on demand, freight services, business fleet services, and same day delivery options.
On June 28, BTIG analyst Jake Fuller raised the price target on Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) shares to $55 from $50 and maintained a ‘Buy’ rating for the shares. This represents a potential upside of 28.2% based on the share price on July 8.
As of Q1 2023, Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) shares was held by 144 hedge funds, with the total shares held by these funds valued at $5.7 billion.
RiverPark Advisors, an investment advisory firm, made the following comment about Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“UBER remains the undisputed global leader in ride sharing, with a greater than 50% share in every major region in which it operates. The company is also a leader in food delivery, where it is number one or two in the more than 25 countries in which it operates. Moreover, after a history of losses, the company is now solidly profitable with the potential for substantial margin expansion and free cash flow generation to come.”
Average 3-month Volume: 27.05 million
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 289
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a leading technology company with products include operating systems, cross-device productivity applications, server applications, business solution applications, desktop and server management tools, software development tools, and video games.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is among the leaders in the AI race following its partnership with OpenAI, the creator of Chat GPT – an artificial intelligence powered chatbot. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is using its AI capabilities to improve its existing products and services including Bing Search, Cloud, as well as its Office Suite.
In its Q1 2023 investor letter, Baron Funds, an investment management company, made the following comments about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT):
“[W]e believe Microsoft is positioned to be a prime beneficiary of AI because of its ownership of and partnership with OpenAI, the inventor of ChatGPT; its Azure AI supercomputing cloud infrastructure, which is the exclusive cloud provider to OpenAI and a leading AI development platform for other enterprises; and Microsoft’s own AI innovations across Bing search (a chatbox virtual assistant), GitHub CoPilot software development (automated code suggestions and completion), and its Office suite of worker-productivity software (virtual assistants, branded CoPilot, to draft or summarize an email, enter data into a spreadsheet, prepare slides, etc.). We remain confident Microsoft is well positioned to continue taking share through any economic downturn and emerge stronger on the other side.”
As of Q1 2023, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) ranks highest on our list of 13 best most active stocks to buy now in terms of hedge fund sentiment as it was the most sought-after stock among the 943 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey. 289 of these hedge funds held shares in the software giant, valued at $58 billion.
Average 3-month Volume: 32.96 million
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 204
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), based in Mountain View, California, is the parent company of several companies including the Google, Verily Life Sciences, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Calico, and X-the moonshot factory. Majority of its revenue is generated by Google Services which comprises of ads, Android, Chrome, hardware, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.
On July 5, Piper Sandler analyst Thomas Champion raised the price target on Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares to $140 from $128 and maintained an ‘Outperform’ rating for the shares. The analyst believes that the search giant is unlikely to lose significant share in its markets. The company’s foray into the AI space with the introduction of Bard, PaLM 2, Workspace integrations and new advertising tools are expected to help the company retain its leadership position.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is one of the most commonly owned stock among the 943 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey. As of Q1 2023, 204 hedge funds owned shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), valued at $17.7 billion.
Average 3-month Volume: 47.02 million
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 132
Founded in 1993, California-based NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is a leading technology company focused on the design and manufacturing of accelerated computing hardware and software products. Its core businesses comprise of Gaming, Data Center, Professional Visualization, and Automotive, with Gaming and Data Center making up for more than 80% of its revenues. Its GeForce GPU is used by more than 200 million gamers and creators, making it the market leader with 80% market share in PC Gaming.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence. Its shares have surged 195% year to date as of July 10, which has propelled it to become the first semiconductor company to have a market capitalization of more than $1.0 trillion.
Analysts are bullish on the future prospects of Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) with a significant potential of top and bottom line growth for the company with the increasing demand for its products. On July 10, Goldman Sachs raised its price target on the shares of the chipmaker to $495 from $440 while KeyBanc raised the target price to $550 from $500.
Hedge funds are also bullish about NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares as the number of hedge funds that own its shares increased from 106 in the previous quarter to 132 in Q1 2023. These hedge funds together held shares worth $12.3 billion according to Insider Monkey data.
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Disclosure: None. 13 Best Most Active Stocks to Buy Now is originally published on Insider Monkey.
