Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Invests $919.34 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,174,415 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $919,341,000. Microsoft makes up about 5.4% of Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management increased its holdings in Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $120,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% 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, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $3.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $474.96. The company had a trading volume of 16,804,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,539,207. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. 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 50 day simple moving average of $428.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $418.65. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given 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 yield of 0.70%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Microsoft Company 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.