E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Raises Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 35.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 328,599 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 86,030 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 7.0% of E Fund Management Co. Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $138,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Candriam S.C.A. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 2,667,188 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,124,220,000 after purchasing an additional 129,449 shares in the last quarter. Royal Harbor Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Royal Harbor Partners LLC now owns 11,873 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,004,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the period. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $7,487,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 47,404 shares of the software giant's stock worth $19,981,000 after purchasing an additional 6,806 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Barn Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Barn Wealth LLC now owns 4,816 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,030,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $0.12 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $449.14. 22,927,936 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,492,622. The company has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.16, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $390.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $411.71. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $507.77.

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.