Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 976,543 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,106 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.8% of Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $234,195,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 71.4% during the third quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total transaction of $9,182,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,848 shares of company stock valued at $16,635,227. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Microsoft from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Microsoft from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Microsoft from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Atlantic Securities increased their price objective on Microsoft from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.28.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $321.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 1.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average is $292.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $262.43. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $213.43 and a 1 year high of $322.59.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.25% and a return on equity of 38.98%. The company had revenue of $52.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.47%.

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.