GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Buys Shares of 765,080 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 765,080 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $322,481,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 7.0% of GF Fund Management CO. LTD.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $427,000. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $31,464,000. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 74,631 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $31,457,000 after buying an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. Pacific Point Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $5,374,000. Finally, Wick Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Wick Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,071 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,294,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $480.24 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.11, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $481.00. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $434.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $419.74.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 14th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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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