Tairen Capital Ltd Grows Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Tairen Capital Ltd grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 557.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,079,109 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 915,058 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 17.3% of Tairen Capital Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Tairen Capital Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $482,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,160,020,000 after acquiring an additional 842,884 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Microsoft by 6.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,768,771,000 after buying an additional 1,563,533 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,587,576,000 after buying an additional 45,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,640,068 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,096,428,000 after buying an additional 360,171 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $422.54 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.86, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $360.36 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $421.09 and a 200-day moving average of $424.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 24.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

About Microsoft

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.