Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Lifted by Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd.

Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 30.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 364,623 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,739 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 6.3% of Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $84,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 71.4% during the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at $82,000. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 58.6% during the third quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 406 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $104,000. 69.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $248.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.93. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $315.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $248.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $245.75.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.17 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.05% and a return on equity of 39.87%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $305.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $315.00 target price on Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Microsoft from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, Fundamental Research lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $269.73 to $259.47 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total value of $272,320.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,687,699.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.