GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd Acquires Shares of 34,282 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 34,282 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $12,869,000. Microsoft makes up about 3.2% of GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $520.17 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $502.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $441.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.14, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,350 shares of company stock worth $21,493,447 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

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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