Danske Bank A S Has $2.56 Billion Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Danske Bank A S increased its Microsoft stake by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, adding 284,291 shares to bring its total holding to 5.3 million shares worth about $2.56 billion. Microsoft is now the fund’s third-largest position and makes up roughly 6% of its portfolio.
• Microsoft continues to draw broad institutional and analyst support. About 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutions, and Wall Street currently assigns it a Moderate Buy consensus rating with a target price of $560.88.
• The company posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $4.27 and revenue of $82.89 billion, both topping analyst estimates. Microsoft also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, payable June 11.

Danske Bank A S grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,303,320 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 284,291 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 6.0% of Danske Bank A S's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Danske Bank A S owned approximately 0.07% of Microsoft worth $2,564,792,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth about $49,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $560.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $426.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $400.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $434.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $356.28 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is expected to showcase new homegrown AI models at Build, including a coding model that could improve GitHub Copilot and support future developer adoption. Microsoft to release new coding model next week, the Information reports
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary is turning more bullish on Microsoft’s AI revenue potential, with Morgan Stanley and HSBC both suggesting the market may be underestimating future upside from Azure, Copilot, and the Anthropic relationship. Is Wall Street underestimating MSFT AI revenue potential? Morgan Stanley weighs in
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also benefited from a broad tech rally, with AI and software stocks leading the market higher late in the session. Sector Update: Tech Stocks Rise Late Afternoon
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft secured a five-year $9.69 billion Pentagon software deal that consolidates government licensing and reinforces its entrenched enterprise and public-sector position. Pentagon awards Microsoft $9.7 billion deal in bid to cut costs, end license sprawl
• Neutral Sentiment: Some articles also note Microsoft’s heavy AI spending and the risk of capital misallocation across the sector, which could keep valuation debates active even as the stock trends higher. Peter Schiff: The $1 Trillion AI CapEx Bubble Is Hiding a Massive Capital Misallocation

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

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