Factory Mutual Insurance Co. Has $430.98 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,146,098 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 5.4% of Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $430,979,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 82,267 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,976,000 after buying an additional 3,209 shares during the period. Bailard Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% in the third quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,497,000 after buying an additional 5,366 shares in the last quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,967,000 after buying an additional 6,484 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.7% during the third quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,471 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,516,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. KeyCorp started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $407.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.85, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $275.37 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $414.60 and a 200-day moving average of $386.93.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Microsoft

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.