1,750,735 Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bought by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,750,735 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $753,299,000. Microsoft makes up 7.5% of B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG's portfolio, making the stock its largest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Microsoft by 67.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,032,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,483 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its stake in Microsoft by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,344,566 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,299,767,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938,304 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $512.66.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock traded down $2.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $444.06. The company had a trading volume of 15,539,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,490,811. The company has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $431.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $425.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 27.39%.

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.