Frederick DiSanto’s Ancora Advisors Is Investing In These 5 Stocks

4. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ancora Advisors’ Stake Value: $63.6 million
Percentage of Ancora Advisors’ 13F Portfolio: 1.66%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 238

One of the top US tech companies, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares are up by 51% year-to-date. The firm announced a strategic partnership with Kyndryl Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:KD) on November 12. Becoming Kyndryl’s only Premier Global Alliance Partner, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will have access to the $500 billion managed services market where the firm leads.

As of the second quarter of 2021, Frederick DiSanto has stakes worth $63.6 million in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), representing 1.66% of Ancora Advisors’ investment portfolio.

Of the 873 elite funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 238 were bullish on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at the end of June. The total stake value of these positions amounted to approximately $62.4 billion. This is compared to 251 hedge funds in the first quarter of 2021, with a total stake of $58.9 billion.

Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Robert Koehn’s Ivy Lane Capital is the biggest shareholder in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), with 86,000 shares worth more than $23.29 billion.

On November 1, Deutsche Bank analyst Brad Zelnick initiated coverage of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) with a Buy rating and $390 price target. The analyst calls the firm “the gold standard of software stocks”.

Here is what Alger has to say about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“Microsoft Corporation was among the top contributors to performance during the third quarter. Microsoft is a Positive Dynamic Change beneficiary of corporate America’s transformative digitization. Microsoft’s enterprise cloud product, Azure, is rapidly growing and accruing market share. Microsoft reported that Azure grew 51% in the second quarter. This high unit volume growth is a primary driver of the company’s higher share price, but the company’s strong operating execution has enabled margin expansion that has also helped to increase forward earnings estimates. We believe Microsoft’s subscription-based software offerings and cloud computing services have a durable growth profile because they enhance customers’ growth initiatives and help them to diminish costs. Additionally, investors appreciate Microsoft’s strong free cash flow generation and its return of cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases.”