Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s 3rd Largest Position

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,020,221 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 53,182 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.6% of Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,299,601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Realta Investment Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the second quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 37,229 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,639,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the period. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.7% during the second quarter. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. now owns 30,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $13,758,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the second quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 81,607 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,474,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% in the second quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,475 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,000,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $423.35 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $366.50 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $428.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $428.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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.