Is Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) a Good Stock to Buy Now?

Since Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has experienced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there exists a select few funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes in the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management cut the biggest stake of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $1.20 billion in stock, and Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $353 million worth of shares. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by five funds in the third quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). We will take a look at Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-B), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble MSFT’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 91 funds holding shares at the end of September and the average amount invested in these stocks was $12.27 billion, which is lower than the $18.14 billion in Microsoft’s case. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the most popular stock in this table, with 150 funds reporting long positions. On the other hand Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is the least popular one with only 59 bullish hedge fund positions. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.