Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Has $10.38 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 24,118 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 618 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 6.3% of Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth $3,699,000. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the second quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,489 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,900,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.4% during the second quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 55,964 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% in the second quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 50,742 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $22,679,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $438.11 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.15, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $428.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $428.86. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Loop Capital upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group lifted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

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.