Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 862,097 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 7,801 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 9.2% of E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB's holdings in Microsoft were worth $370,960,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Microsoft by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,566,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 31,648.5% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant's stock worth $8,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,996 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

MSFT stock traded down $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $436.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 54,224,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,730,301. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $427.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $428.42. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $508.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.