Forsta AP Fonden Buys 14,000 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,864,200 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 6.1% of Forsta AP Fonden’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $927,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $170,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Seek First Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho cut Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 target price on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim set a $675.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Arete Research increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.33.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $483.16 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $507.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $500.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.