Meridian Funds, managed by ArrowMark Partners, released its “Meridian Hedged Equity Fund” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. News of declining inflation and the potential for lower interest rates in 2024 fueled optimism in the final months of the year. Equities saw a broad rally, with small caps surging over 14% and large caps adding to yearly gains, resulting in a 12% return for the quarter. In the quarter, the fund appreciated 8.96% (net), trailing its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index, which returned 11.69%. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2023.
Meridian Hedged Equity Fund featured stocks like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q4 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a multinational software company that develops, and licenses software, services, devices, and solutions. On April 2, 2024, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock closed at $421.44 per share. One-month return of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was 4.81%, and its shares gained 48.22% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a market capitalization of $3.131 trillion.
Meridian Hedged Equity Fund stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a key player in the technology ecosystem, providing software, services, and devices to individuals, businesses, and enterprises worldwide. The company has expanded well beyond its historical core to include a wide range of products and services, such as cloud computing, gaming, hardware, and AI-enabled business solutions. Microsoft reported another strong quarter of revenue growth across most of its divisions and announced several initiatives focused on the monetization of its AI capabilities across its business units. While still early for the adoption of its AI products and revenue generation, we believe these products provide significant revenue opportunities over the coming years. The AI Copilots are expected to increase productivity, drive more cloud consumption, and enable Microsoft to upsell premium product tiers. We remain constructive on Microsoft’s prospects for growth; however, the stock’s valuation is beginning to reflect these opportunities. While we continued to hold an unhedged position in the fund, we trimmed our exposure during the quarter.”
A development team working together to create the next version of Windows.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is in first position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was held by 302 hedge fund portfolios, down from 306 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We discussed Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in another article and shared the list of top dividend stocks to buy now according to analysts. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
