5 Best Tech Stocks to Buy For The Long Term

2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 262

This January, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) released its earnings report for the fiscal second quarter of 2022. The company reported earnings per share of $2.48, beating estimates by $0.16. The company’s quarterly revenues amounted to roughly $51.73 billion, up 20.09% year over year from $43.08 billion, outperforming market consensus by $938.45 million.

On January 26, 2022, Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss raised his price target on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to $372 from $364 and reiterated an Overweight rating on the shares, in light of the company’s strong earnings report for the quarter. As of April 5, 2022, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has gained 25.43% over the past twelve months and boasts a market capitalization of $2.33 trillion.

Investors are bullish on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and have long positions in the company. By the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, 262 hedge funds held stakes in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) which were worth more than $75.66 billion. This is compared to 250 positions in the prior quarter with stakes worth $65.87 billion. The hedge fund sentiment for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is positive.

Fisher Asset Management was the dominating shareholder in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at the close of Q4 2021. According to our data, as of April 5, 2022, the fund’s stakes in the company are valued at $9.02 billion which represents 5.05% of Fisher Asset Management’s Q4 2021 investment portfolio.

Here is what ClearBridge Investments had to say about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its fourth-quarter 2021 investor letter:

“Despite these mixed emerging growth results, the ClearBridge Global Growth Strategy outperformed the benchmark due to resilience among our secular and structural growth holdings. The bulk of these contributions came from U.S. mega-cap growth stocks Apple and Microsoft which continued to uniquely act both offensively and defensively as they have through most of the pandemic.”