10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 22 March 2024

With ISA season under way and tax year-end fast approaching, we look at the investments ii customers have been buying within their ISAs during the previous week. The data includes only real-time trades, not regular investing instructions, and combines the use of both existing funds and new money.

• Invest with ii: Open a Stocks & Shares ISA | ISA Investment Ideas | Transfer a Stocks & Shares ISA

Top 10 shares in ISAs

Rolls-Royce Holdings (LSE:RR.) had a brilliant week in terms of share price performance, breaking above 400p for the first time since February 2014. Many shareholders will be sitting on sizeable profits, especially those who bought in the autumn of 2022 when the shares could be had for less than 70p. But there are still plenty happy to bet on further upside at this iconic British engineer, which raced four places up our most-bought list to the top spot for the first time since the beginning of March.

As Graeme Evans reported for us last week, analysts at UBS upgraded their price target for a fourth time since July, on this occasion to 550p. It came shortly after US bank Jefferies said Rolls shares could be worth 470p.

UBS said: “We have increasing confidence in the Rolls-Royce turnaround story after fourth-quarter results and accompanying management interactions and so increase our price target to 550p, from 400p previously.”

• Sign up to our free newsletter for share, fund and trust ideas, and the latest news and analysis
• New Rolls target revealed as bull run continues
• ii view: income king Phoenix Group commits to growing dividend

Phoenix Group Holdings (LSE:PHNX) was the highest new entry at number three. The retirement savings firm said on Friday it had achieved its 2025 growth targets two years early as it set out “ambitious” new targets for 2026.

Among those targets is an expectation that operating cash generation – its new primary cash metric – will grow by about 25% to £1.4 billion in 2026. Management confidence in achieving its numbers also underpins and sustainable dividend policy, which pleased income investors attracted by the current yield of almost 10%.

BAE Systems (LSE:BA.) also returned to the top 10 in a week that saw chair Cressida Hogg spend £181,000 on shares in the defence company near record highs. We heard last month alongside strong annual results how the order book is at record levels, with few signs of any end to major conflicts.

And CAP-XX Ltd (LSE:CPX) is worth a mention after making its debut in the most-bought list at number six. The supercapacitors manufacturer is currently the fifth-smallest company in the AIM All-Share index with a market capitalisation of just £728,000.

Its shares hit a low of 0.0576p in the middle of March after the company said it was running out of cash. They then jumped to 0.375p but drifted back through last week as Canaccord Genuity cut its stake and Dr Graham Cooley increased his. The stock then doubled in value before giving it all back to end the week at 0.1050p on confirmation that a placing and subscription had raised £2 million but at just at 0.1p a share.

• Insider: directors buy this housebuilder and a FTSE 100 high-flyer
• Shares for the future: the best strategy for my pension savings

Among the high-flyers over the pond, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) jumped five positions to fourth place as the stock achieved a closing high of $942.89 on Friday, proving that the AI trend is still going strong.

But MicroStrategy Inc Class A (NASDAQ:MSTR) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) both dropped down the list. The former, seen largely as a play on bitcoin, fell from a record $1,800 to near $1,200 in just two sessions early last week. It ended Friday above $1,500, highlighting the volatility investors must stomach. If bitcoin does well, so will Microstrategy stock, but some influential investors are worried about the scale of debt the company is taking on to finance crypto purchases.

Top 10 funds and trusts in ISAs

Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT) rose two places to be the most-bought collective investment last week. The giant trust has been in the news recently – first it announced a £1 billion buyback programme to be delivered over the next two years, then last week it was revealed that US activist investor Elliott Management had built up a 5% stake.  

Elliott is known for its turnaround of Alliance Trust Ord (LSE:ATST), where it built up a 20% stake and took two seats on the board in 2015, before changing the investment approach of the global fund.  

It remains to be seen what its plans are for Scottish Mortgage, but shares are up about 11% since the buyback plan was announced just over a week ago.

• Under-the-radar stock pickers to back this tax year
• The 2024 line-up of ‘next generation’ trust dividend heroes

Fundsmith Equity and Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity both dropped one place, to second and third. L&G Global Technology Index trust, JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord (LSE:JGGI) and Jupiter India fell one place each to fifth, sixth and seventh place. 

A big riser last week was Alliance Trust Ord (LSE:ATST), up three places to fourth, while Fidelity Index World and Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW) were new entries in eighth and ninth. Vanguard US Equity Index held on to 10th place.  

Dropping off the most-bought collectives list last week were Royal London Short Term Money Market and Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT). 

Funds and trusts section written by ii’s deputy collectives editor Sam Benstead.