Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s 2nd Largest Position

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,596,546 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,777 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 4.6% of State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,117,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,426,767,000 after purchasing an additional 97,075 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position 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 valued at $10,768,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,533 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,651,058 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,734,651,000 after buying an additional 501,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp upped their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $415.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $384.81 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $429.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $426.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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.