Technology stocks have been powering this year’s stock market rally despite the threat of elevated interest rates staying higher for longer. With money managers running at least $100 million in assets required to disclose quarterly holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bank of America scoured the filings in search of the top third quarter buys. Specifically, the Wall Street firm’s analyst Michael Dick reviewed a sea of filings to identify the most popular purchases in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) sector last quarter. For a better illustration of position changes over the course of the quarter, Dick estimated the notional value of the tech buying using “volume-weighted average prices” (VWAP), a common Wall Street yardstick, last quarter. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index has climbed more than 36% this year, on track for its best year since 2020. Many of its top gainers benefited from investor enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence. Meta was the stock that saw the strongest buying from professional investors last quarter, Bank of America said. The Facebook and Instagram parent has almost tripled in 2023, soaring 184%. Last month, Meta reported better-than-expected results for the third quarter, with revenue increasing 23%, the fastest rate of growth since 2021. Institutional investors also piled into shares of Airbnb in the third quarter. The vacation rentals company has seen its shares climb 51% this year after collapsing 49% in 2022. Recently, Airbnb posted stronger-than-expected revenue , buoyed by currency tailwinds. Meanwhile, Activision Blizzard also saw elevated buying from big investors betting that the merger with Microsoft would get regulatory approval and close. The investment paid off when Microsoft closed on the acquisition more than 20 months after agreeing to its largest ever purchase. Other well-loved tech names that saw increased buying included Uber, Qualcomm , DataDog and Intel .
