568,874 Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Acquired by Fisher Funds Management LTD

Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 568,874 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $240,349,000. Microsoft comprises about 5.8% of Fisher Funds Management LTD's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after acquiring an additional 49,735 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $391.85 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $384.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $411.34. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $493.89.

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.

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