Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Increased by Unigestion Holding SA

Unigestion Holding SA grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 189,607 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,890 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 3.9% of Unigestion Holding SA’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Unigestion Holding SA’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $81,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,322,513,000 after acquiring an additional 652,493 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,767,000 after acquiring an additional 97,075 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $409.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $430.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $423.24. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $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 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

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.