Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,944,306 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 1,023,009 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 6.1% of Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.20% of Microsoft worth $6,326,708,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. United Bank raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 18,378 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,908,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the period. Finally, RBO & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. RBO & Co. LLC now owns 9,826 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,228,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $0.90 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $463.87. The company had a trading volume of 14,135,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,449,429. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $411.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $415.62. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business'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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This 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 132,743 shares of company stock worth $58,835,683 over the last three months. 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.