Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,561,779 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 41,241 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.5% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,337,056,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gibson Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Gibson Capital LLC now owns 3,861 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,449,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Terra Alpha Investments LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 5.9% during the first quarter. Terra Alpha Investments LLC now owns 12,816 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,811,000 after buying an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the first quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 125,372 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $47,063,000 after buying an additional 1,519 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 376,706 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $141,412,000 after buying an additional 1,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curated Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% during the first quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,296 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,117,000 after buying an additional 645 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $503.32 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $470.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $425.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $506.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.04.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Mizuho lifted 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. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $534.14.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Microsoft
About Microsoft
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
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