Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Tredje AP fonden's Largest Position

Tredje AP fonden grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,056,535 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 162,135 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 7.2% of Tredje AP fonden's holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Tredje AP fonden's holdings in Microsoft were worth $772,003,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $3,035,987,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $12.97 during trading on Friday, hitting $495.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 31,963,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,697,988. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $509.93 and a 200-day moving average of $450.60.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

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.