International Assets Investment Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 48,526.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.2% of International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. International Assets Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.52% of Microsoft worth $16,567,258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,767,000 after purchasing an additional 97,075 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% in the 2nd 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 lifted its holdings 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 valued at $6,587,576,000 after buying an additional 45,220 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 11,462,919 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,822,679,000 after acquiring an additional 46,410 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $508.46.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $437.39 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $366.50 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $426.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.20.

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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.