Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab's 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• Danica Pension increased its Microsoft stake by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, buying 90,773 additional shares. Microsoft is now its second-largest holding, worth about $502.2 million and representing 7.2% of its portfolio.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with several firms reaffirming buy/outperform views and a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. MarketBeat data shows a consensus price target of $560.88.
• Microsoft’s latest quarter beat expectations, reporting $4.27 EPS on $82.89 billion in revenue, and the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share. The stock has continued to draw support from upbeat AI-related news, including reports of a new coding model and a major Pentagon software deal.

Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,038,404 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 90,773 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 7.2% of Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab's holdings in Microsoft were worth $502,193,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. President Capital upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Barclays reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $560.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

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 Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $426.99 on Friday. 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 one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $400.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $434.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.42, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

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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