Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by GAM Holding AG

GAM Holding AG boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 14.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 184,647 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 23,317 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.8% of GAM Holding AG's holdings, making the stock its largest holding. GAM Holding AG's holdings in Microsoft were worth $77,829,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position 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 worth $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 43,900.4% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,042,499 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $860,913,000 after buying an additional 2,037,857 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $470.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $499.97.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $367.78 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $2.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $388.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $412.70.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Microsoft Company 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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