Veritas Asset Management LLP Has $847.63 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Veritas Asset Management LLP decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,010,982 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 219,126 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 7.9% of Veritas Asset Management LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Veritas Asset Management LLP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $847,629,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,515,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. Campbell Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at about $3,314,000. Centric Wealth Management raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,789,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1900 Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,274,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $425.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $384.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $411.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. UBS Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.77.

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.