Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Acquires 715,005 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 18.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,488,414 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 715,005 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.7% of Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned about 0.06% of Microsoft worth $2,006,097,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,160,020,000 after purchasing an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd 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 raised its position in Microsoft by 6.9% in 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 period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $415.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $422.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $425.53. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.