Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Invests $265.92 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 630,883 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $265,917,000. Microsoft comprises about 6.8% of Generali Asset Management SPA SGR's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Evoke Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 107,674 shares of the software giant's stock worth $45,385,000 after purchasing an additional 1,905 shares during the last quarter. Entrewealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $381,000. Horizon Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 38,478 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,218,000 after purchasing an additional 7,562 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 286,446 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $120,737,000 after acquiring an additional 3,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,373,027 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,421,424,000 after acquiring an additional 114,892 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $1.32 on Thursday, hitting $458.68. The stock had a trading volume of 13,971,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,584,780. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $407.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $414.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

About Microsoft

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.