BIT Capital GmbH Acquires 17,594 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BIT Capital GmbH raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 823.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,731 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 17,594 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.7% of BIT Capital GmbH’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. BIT Capital GmbH’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,675,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,579 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,104,959,000 after buying an additional 406,940 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3%

MSFT opened at $461.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $410.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $415.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 132,743 shares of company stock worth $58,835,683 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Company 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.