5 Best Vanguard Stocks to Buy Now

2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)

Vanguard’s Stake Value: $144,020,103,000
Percentage of Vanguard Group’s 13F Portfolio: 3.96%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 251

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) ranks 2nd on the 10 best Vanguard stocks to buy now. The Washington-based tech company manufactures consumer electronics and laptops. On top of the operating system products and Microsoft Office applications, the company also provides cloud computing services through Microsoft Azure. At the end of the first quarter, Vanguard Group Inc owned 610,849,992 shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) worth $144 billion, representing 3.96% of Vanguard’s investment portfolio. MSFT shares have returned 31% to investors in the past twelve months. The stock has also gained 11% in the past three months.

The company has a market cap of more than $2 trillion. The company’s revenue in the third quarter increased 19% to $41.7 billion, up from $35 billion in the same quarter in 2020. The company earned a net income of $15.5 billion GAAP or $2.03 diluted earnings per share GAAP. On June 28, Jefferies maintained a Buy rating on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), with a price target of $310 per share. 

At the end of the first quarter of 2021, 251 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $58.9 billion in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), down from 258 the preceding quarter worth $52.9 billion. 

In its Q1 2021 investor letter, Polen Capital mentioned Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and shared their insights on the company. Here is what the fund said: 

“We have written extensively about Microsoft in recent commentaries. It was our leading contributor last year and one of our largest weightings within the Portfolio. It continues to experience business momentum through several dominant, essential, and competitively advantaged businesses, like Office 365 and Azure. The markets it competes for are enormous, which gives the company the ability to compound at scale. In the past quarter alone, the company generated over $40 billion in revenue, representing a 17% growth rate. The inherent operating leverage in Microsoft’s business model continues and led to 34% earnings growth this past quarter. Despite the broad rotation we saw in the first quarter and Microsoft’s robust performance in 2020, we think its business fundamentals continue to exhibit strength, and the stock continues to reflect the fundamentals.”