Factory Mutual Insurance Co. Reduces Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,114,398 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 31,700 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.4% of Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $468,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $9,625,201,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $467.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at $19,686,433. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $446.95 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $424.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $410.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $456.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.