Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Boosted by Aviva PLC

Aviva PLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,260,559 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 359,040 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 6.4% of Aviva PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Aviva PLC owned 0.08% of Microsoft worth $3,114,065,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 386.7% during the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 29.9% during the second quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $69,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim set a $675.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Wolfe Research set a $675.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Baird R W upgraded Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $682.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.33.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $480.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $507.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $500.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.