Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd Grows Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 15.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 662,000 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 87,434 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.5% of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $284,859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Nwam LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $113,488,000. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $73,604,000. GM Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 53,456 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,002,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 21,630 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 11,902 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,121,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $510.24.

Microsoft Stock Down 6.2 %

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $27.34 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $414.99. 53,865,877 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,496,486. The company's 50 day moving average is $432.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $424.95. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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.