Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Lifted by Aviva PLC

Aviva PLC increased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,260,559 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 359,040 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 6.4% of Aviva PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,114,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,374,718,000 after buying an additional 2,306,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Wolfe Research set a $675.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim set a $675.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Mizuho downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.33.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $480.84 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $507.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $500.78. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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