12 Dow Stocks Billionaires Like The Most

Published on December 10, 2023 at 1:07 pm by Ramish Cheema in Hedge Funds, News

In this piece, we will take a look at the 12 Dow stocks that billionaires like the most.

In its current form today, the Dow is made up of 30 companies. These firms are also called blue chip stocks, and the Dow was expanded to include 30 companies right at a time of one of the most pivotal moments in American history. This took place in 1928 and the term was coined by a news reporter working for Dow Jones. In 1928, the stock market entered its eighth consecutive year of a bull run, and naturally, there was optimism (and money) flowing all around. However, this was followed by the Great Depression, an economic calamity that delivered 15x worse percentage losses than the Great Recession that followed the housing bubble pop in 2008.

Since its inception, the Dow has seen it all. Originally a classification of 12 stocks prior to its expansion in 1928, the index has been rebalanced along the way to ensure that it paints an accurate picture of the U.S. economy. Its century long history has also seen several firms stay on the index for decades. For instance, the General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), one of the oldest companies in America, was part of the Dow’s original collection of 12 stocks and remained on the index continuously since 1907 until it was given the boot in 2018. General Electric was replaced by Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA), and the pharmacy retailer has held its place at the time of writing.

Yet, despite being one of the oldest stock indexes in the world, the Dow still has its limitations. For instance, while the index is designed to be a broad representation of the U.S. economy, the stock market landscape is dominated by the ‘Magnificent Seven’. These are Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), and Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). However, among these, only Apple and Microsoft are part of the Dow, a decision that includes personal computing but excludes eCommerce and social media from the list. Given that everyone spends all their time on social media and orders everything online, the Dow’s exclusion does raise a question about its suitability as the economic barometer. If you want to find out about more social media and eCommerce stocks, then you can check out 10 Cheap Social Media Stocks to Buy and 10 Best Social Media Platforms For eCommerce.

So, what’s the Dow up to these days? Well, November was a great month for the index as investors became all bright eyed about potential rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. As December 2023 started, the DJIA added 2.4% during the last week of November to mark a fifth week of consecutive gain to beat its previous similar run in 2021. This streak came after July 2023 which had seen the blue chip stock index post 13 consecutive days of gains – a feat that it had previously achieved in 1987. Just like the November rally, the July record was also due to the Federal Reserve as investors jumped on the optimism gun after the Fed signaled that it was nearing the end of its interest rate hiking cycle.

The start of December 2023’s second week also showed why the Dow is more preferred when it comes to protecting investments. This is because, after a crucial U.S. jobs report that showed the economy adding 190,000 jobs in November (economists were expecting 175,000), the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ dropped by 10 basis points and 40 basis points, respectively. The Dow, on the other hand, shed 0.1% and led the two in the early stages of the reversal.

So, with the economic climate improving amidst doubts of a recession, we decided to see which Dow stocks are loved by billionaires. Some top picks are Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM), and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).

A closeup of a Wall Street broker trading on the capital stock exchange, representative of the company’s financial activities.

Our Methodology

To make our list of the most favorite Dow stocks among billionaires, we ranked the constituents of the Dow 30 index by the number of billionaire hedge funds that had bought their shares during Q3 2023.

Dow Stocks Billionaires Like The Most

12. Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Number of Billionaire Investors In Q3 2023: 17

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) is an American healthcare company that sells drugs for a variety of ailments. While others have struggled, the firm has been performing well financially in 2023. This is because year to September, its revenue grew by 2.8% annually to sit at $19.87, with the firm also starting to integrate A.I. into its drug discovery process.

During Q3 2023, 60 out of the 910 hedge funds surveyed by Insider Monkey had bought and owned Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)’s shares. Out of these, the largest shareholder was Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP as it owned a $416 million stake.

Alongside Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM), Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) is top Dow stock among billionaires.

11. Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Number of Billionaire Investors In Q3 2023: 18

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is the largest brick and mortar retailer in the world. The firm is making a move to diversify its business model these days, and it is offering breast cancer screening at its Supercenter in Milford Delaware to this effect.

As of September 2023, 80 out of the 910 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey had held a stake in the company. Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s biggest hedge fund investor is Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management as it owns $1.4 billion worth of shares.

10. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Number of Billionaire Investors In Q3 2023: 18

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) is a consumer products company that is one of the largest of its kind in the world. The firm was out with some bad news for investors in December 2023 when it shared that impairment and restructuring costs will remove $2.5 billion from its income statement over the next two years. Consequently, the stock fell by 2.5%.

Insider Monkey took a look at 910 hedge funds for their September quarter of 2023 shareholdings to find that 75 were The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s investors. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management was the largest shareholder due to its $1.4 billion stake.

9. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Number of Billionaire Investors In Q3 2023: 18

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is an American animal and human health pharmaceuticals company. It has been performing well on the financial front as of late, by having beaten analyst EPS estimates in all four of. its latest quarters. The shares are also rated Strong Buy on average and the average share price target is $124.

By the end of this year’s third quarter, 85 out of the 910 hedge funds surveyed by Insider Monkey had bought the firm’s shares. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)’s biggest hedge fund investor is Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management as it holds 13.3 million shares that are worth $1.3 billion.

8. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)

Number of Billionaire Investors In Q3 2023: 19

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) is a mega oil company headquartered in San Ramon, California. 2023 is a big year for the company, as it is acquiring another oil company for a whopping $53 billion price tag. However, the deal isn’t done, as the FTC announced a probe into it in December 2023.

For their September quarter of 2023 shareholdings, 72 hedge funds out of the 910 tracked by Insider Monkey had held a stake in Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX). Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owned the largest stake which was worth $18.5 billion.

7. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CSCO)

Number of Billionaire Investors In Q3 2023: 19

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CSCO) is a technology company that provides networking products to enterprise grade users. The firm recently beefed up its enterprise grade networking security portfolio after announcing a new A.I. assistant for security.

As 2023’s September quarter ended, 64 out of the 910 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey were the firm’s investors. Out of these, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CSCO)’s biggest investor was Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke, and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital as it owned $1.2 billion worth of shares.

6. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Billionaire Investors In Q3 2023: 19

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a personal computing company best known for the iPhone. Despite its heft, which often leaves investors dazed, Barclays warned in December 2023 that its fundamentals don’t look promising particularly as it has consistently lowered guidance.

134 out of the 910 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey’s Q3 2023 database had bought Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s shares. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway remained the top investor due to its $156 billion stake.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) are some top billionaire Dow stock picks.

5. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Number of Billionaire Investors In Q3 2023: 20

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is a personal health and pharmaceutical company. The firm has missed analyst EPS estimates in three out of its four latest quarters. The shares are rated Buy on average and analysts have set an average share price target of $175.48.

During this year’s third quarter, 84 out of the 910 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey’s database had bought Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) ‘s shares. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management owned the biggest stake among these which was worth $1.1 billion.