Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,169,130 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 21,272 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.0% of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $492,788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after purchasing an additional 49,735 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $359.84 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company's 50-day moving average is $399.08 and its 200 day moving average is $417.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $359.48 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $470.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $508.86.

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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