Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 969,365 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 18,160 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 18.7% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,909,468,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Certior Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $833,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. now owns 87,555 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,904,000 after purchasing an additional 2,624 shares during the last quarter. Soundwatch Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Soundwatch Capital LLC now owns 3,218 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,356,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $799,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 16,273 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,859,000 after buying an additional 616 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $513.89.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $478.87 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $425.64 and a 200-day moving average of $418.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.56, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $480.42.

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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

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.