Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s 3rd Largest Position

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,603,020 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 251,800 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 5.8% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,518,673,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,204,664,000 after buying an additional 49,735 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $374.58 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $385.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $411.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $2.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 prior year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $470.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $435.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.80.

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.