Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by CHB Investment Group LLC

CHB Investment Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,602 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. CHB Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $581.00 price target (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.79.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Microsoft stock opened at $510.05 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $477.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $428.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $514.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.