FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co Sells 2,036 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co cut its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 157,969 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,036 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.8% of FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $66,584,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,439,407,000 after buying an additional 4,568,539 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,032,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222,483 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 43,900.4% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,042,499 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $860,913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,037,857 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $435.28 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $384.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $411.07. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

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.