Axa S.A. Has $1.67 Billion Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

AXA S.A. trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,967,495 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 67,553 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 5.1% of AXA S.A.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. AXA S.A. owned approximately 0.05% of Microsoft worth $1,672,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. Avondale Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $2.20 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $480.24. 17,508,757 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,496,242. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $481.00. The company has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $434.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $419.74.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

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.