Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,944,306 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,023,009 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 6.1% of Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.20% of Microsoft worth $6,326,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 18,378 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,908,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the period. Finally, RBO & Co. LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. RBO & Co. LLC now owns 9,826 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,228,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank upped their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group reduced their price target 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. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $461.97 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $410.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $415.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.20, a PEG 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 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect 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 paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 132,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,835,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company 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.