1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 262
Dividend Yield as of March 11: 0.89%
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a reliable blue chip dividend stock that was reported by several Redditors as part of their early retirement income portfolios, which is a testament to the company’s solid dividend history, consistency of performance, and fortress balance sheet.
Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss on February 8 extended his Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) forecast to five years to highlight what he sees as a “durable EPS growth story”, arguing that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) positions well against multiple secular growth trends, which leads him to forecast the company sustaining a 15% revenue compound annual growth rate through calendar year 2026. He maintained an Overweight rating and a $372 price target on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which he said “remains a strong buy at current levels”.
On December 7, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.62 per share. The dividend was paid on March 10, to shareholders of record on February 17.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a favorite tech stock in the hedge fund universe. A total of 262 funds were bullish on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in Q4 2021, up from 250 funds in the prior quarter. Arrowstreet Capital is a prominent Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shareholder, with more than 17 million shares worth $5.7 billion.
Here is what Saturna Capital Amana Funds has to say about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:
“Only two companies remain from 2010’s top 10 list: Apple and Microsoft. Going back to 2000, only Microsoft remains. We expect that Microsoft will maintain its position as the dominant global provider of personal and business software, while growing its cloud business and potentially being a key provider of augmented and mixed hardware and software.
US Technology companies have been the equity market’s biggest winners in recent years. Because of the Amana Income Fund’s objective of current income, many of these zero- or low-dividend companies do not suit the Fund’s mandate. One that does — Microsoft, which returned 46.03% for 2021 — was the Fund’s second biggest contributor to returns during the year. While Technology no doubt underpins much of the current economy and its future potential, Tech stocks have also benefited from low inflation, globalization, and valuations that are near historic highs. With globalization backsliding and inflation worries escalating, we believe companies in other industries with strong financial positions, competitive advantages, strong management, attractive dividend yields, and reasonable valuations can offer investors diversification in the context of equity markets increasingly concentrated in a handful of very large Technology firms.”
You can also take a look at 10 Dividend Stocks with Over 10% Yield and 10 Companies That Topped Profit Expectations.
