Tairen Capital Ltd Acquires 915,058 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Tairen Capital Ltd raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 557.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,079,109 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 915,058 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 17.3% of Tairen Capital Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Tairen Capital Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $482,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after buying an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Microsoft by 77.6% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after acquiring an additional 2,744,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $846,072,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT traded down $2.89 on Friday, reaching $422.54. The company had a trading volume of 16,891,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,265,076. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $421.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $425.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $360.36 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. Microsoft's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.75%.

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.