Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by AIA Group Ltd

AIA Group Ltd raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 310,537 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,520 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.1% of AIA Group Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $105,750,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC now owns 5,307 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in Microsoft by 3.6% during the second quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 82,689 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,159,000 after purchasing an additional 2,870 shares during the last quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA increased its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the second quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA now owns 64,323 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,904,000 after purchasing an additional 1,375 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc increased its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 52,774 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,972,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 6,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,229,000 after buying an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $425.00 to $421.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $384.34.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $363.20 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $219.35 and a 1-year high of $366.78. The stock has a market cap of $2.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $330.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $328.22.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.34. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.79% and a net margin of 35.31%. The business had revenue of $56.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.11 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 26.33%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,963,391.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.