AGF Management Ltd. Buys 173,556 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

AGF Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 32.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 711,409 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 173,556 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.5% of AGF Management Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. AGF Management Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $299,859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew 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 worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,334,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $4.60 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $458.87. 21,313,890 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,562,400. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $395.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $412.34. The company has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.30.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 94,243 shares of company stock worth $41,288,738. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.