Nvidia now the top stock for ‘the average investor’

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is making its shares more appealing to retail investors, not that this is something the chipmaker has much trouble with.

In fact, it is now the number 1 stock for ‘the average retail portfolio’ ahead of previous favourite’s Tesla and Apple, that’s according to a survey.

Nvidia is now largest holding in the average portfolio, thanks to its meteoric AI-driven ascent to over $1,000.

The stock is up some 1,700% since 2020, and is up around $750 or 243% over the past year.

Changing hands at $1,054 on Thursday, it gained another 11% following last night’s latest impressive set of financial results - which showed revenue and earnings well ahead of market forecasts.

Vanda Research, the firm that’s compiled data on ‘the most widely held stocks and ETFs’, claimed the average retail investor portfolio has a 9% weighting in Nvidia – leading the likes of Apple, Tesla and Meta.

The increased weighting was no doubt influenced by Nvidia’s phenomenal phase of growth has left the shares out of reach of some investors.

AI-driven growth has propelled Nvidia’s price to $1,039, valuing the chipmaking business at $2.56 trillion.

Perhaps it is easy to see why the company is now planning a 10-for-1 stock split which (all other things being equal) will bring the price into a much more affordable level of around $100 per share.

The chipmaker said it was making the change ‘to make stock ownership more accessible to employees and investors.’

At the same time, Nvidia also said it would reward existing shareholders with a 150% increase in its quarterly dividend.