Krane Funds Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Krane Funds Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,178 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 789 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.1% of Krane Funds Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Krane Funds Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,515,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Scotiabank upped their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $513.89.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $478.87 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $480.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $425.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $418.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

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.