Groupama Asset Managment Grows Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 981,251 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 120,835 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 8.3% of Groupama Asset Managment’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $422,232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at about $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 10.1% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $412.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $431.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $423.41. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $385.58 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total value of $1,077,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 53,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,203,211.24. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho dropped their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

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.