Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's 3rd Largest Position

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund trimmed its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,261,880 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 5,700 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.4% of Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in Microsoft were worth $531,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Delta Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $20,347,000. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 47,587 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,058,000 after purchasing an additional 2,794 shares in the last quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC now owns 16,866 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,109,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Delap Wealth Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Delap Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 15,720 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,626,000 after buying an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stevens Capital Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Stevens Capital Partners now owns 3,568 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,504,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $503.74.

Microsoft Stock Up 8.8 %

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $34.82 on Thursday, hitting $430.08. The stock had a trading volume of 41,615,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,248,390. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The business has a 50 day moving average of $383.76 and a 200 day moving average of $410.91. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS 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 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

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.