Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd. Has $7.12 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,932 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 644 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.4% of Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 9,725 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,091,000 after buying an additional 478 shares during the period. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 18,069 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,648,000 after acquiring an additional 2,705 shares in the last quarter. Richelieu Gestion SA raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Richelieu Gestion SA now owns 13,528 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,691,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,586 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,454,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Columbia Advisory Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Columbia Advisory Partners LLC now owns 4,093 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,722,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

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

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $459.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $425.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $410.79. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $459.59. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 target price (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie boosted their target price on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

Microsoft 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.