Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ Makes New $38.30 Million Investment in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ invested approximately $38.30 million in Microsoft Corporation, acquiring 76,995 shares, making Microsoft the firm’s largest holding at 36.1% of their portfolio.
• Microsoft reported $3.65 earnings per share for its latest quarter, surpassing consensus estimates of $3.35, with a total revenue of $76.44 billion, marking an 18.1% increase from the previous year.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share, payable on December 11th, up from the previous $0.83, with a 0.7% yield.

Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 76,995 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $38,298,000. Microsoft makes up about 36.1% of Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,374,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,485 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush raised their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $3.48 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $514.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,977,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,503,336. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.72, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $511.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $458.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.