Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd’s Largest Position

Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 16.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 97,894 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 13,793 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 7.4% of Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $41,885,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,184 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,821,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Aldebaran Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 7,663 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,298,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Microsoft by 42.4% during the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 67,404 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,004,000 after purchasing an additional 20,061 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank grew its holdings in Microsoft by 69.0% in the third quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 2,832 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156 shares during the period. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 18.3% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 124,788 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $53,696,000 after buying an additional 19,302 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $410.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $430.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $423.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Microsoft Company 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.