King Wealth Management Group Increases Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

King Wealth Management Group boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 36.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 110,501 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 29,295 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 7.4% of King Wealth Management Group's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. King Wealth Management Group's holdings in Microsoft were worth $47,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised 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 worth $2,566,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404,348 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 56.9% during the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,344,566 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,299,767,000 after buying an additional 1,938,304 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $428.50. 25,848,817 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,069,188. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $429.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.92. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. TD Cowen reduced their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Loop Capital boosted their price target 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. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $512.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was 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 document filed 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 value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.