Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Increased by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 7.5% of Swedbank AB’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Swedbank AB owned approximately 0.18% of Microsoft worth $5,890,530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 97,075 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,563,533 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,587,576,000 after purchasing an additional 45,220 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,265,992 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,588,385,000 after purchasing an additional 165,939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 20.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,575,391 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,385,821,000 after buying an additional 1,293,466 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $414.99 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $432.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.95. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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