Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,570 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $662,000. Microsoft makes up about 0.2% of Mizuho Bank Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.
Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after buying an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after buying an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James increased 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Microsoft
Insider Activity at Microsoft
In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade 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 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%
NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $3.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $474.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,787,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,485,135. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $425.64 and a 200-day moving average of $418.26. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $480.42.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. 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. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.
Microsoft Company Profile
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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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