Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,563,843 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,701 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.9% of AQR Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,267,910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 94,120 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,816,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373 shares in the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the first quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $860,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the second quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $457,119,000 after buying an additional 33,382 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 39.3% in the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $54,376,000 after buying an additional 40,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,930,000 after buying an additional 814 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price target on Microsoft from $640.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $630.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Arete Research raised their target price on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $632.34.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $478.53 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.03, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $504.05 and a 200-day moving average of $502.05.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.89%.

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.