Czech National Bank Has $640.97 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,707,472 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 95,107 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 5.9% of Czech National Bank's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Czech National Bank's holdings in Microsoft were worth $640,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $120,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $495.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $499.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $449.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $422.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MSFT. TD Securities increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush raised their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $521.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 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.

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