QRG Capital Management Inc. Acquires 69,940 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,178,077 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 69,940 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.2% of QRG Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. QRG Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $526,541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after purchasing an additional 842,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,591,126,000 after acquiring an additional 277,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,381,692 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,544,532,000 after acquiring an additional 403,409 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $7.70 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $409.44. 19,824,454 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,763,338. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $431.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $422.97. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 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, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Macquarie increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $506.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $494.72.

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.