AHL Investment Management Inc. Acquires 1,722 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

AHL Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,701 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,722 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 5.1% of AHL Investment Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. AHL Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America cut their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $524.71.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $496.62 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $500.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $465.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $424.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation 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, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.

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