Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 106,581 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 8,258 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.8% of ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $45,862,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $512.93.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

Microsoft stock traded up $4.45 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $429.03. 26,146,013 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,227,436. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $429.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $426.37. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.