Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 17.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,763,937 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,077,795 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.1% of Nordea Investment Management AB’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.18% of Microsoft worth $3,276,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after purchasing an additional 6,129,708 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,824,173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951,554 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $50,302,677,000 after purchasing an additional 556,020 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 49,440,386 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,514,665,000 after purchasing an additional 208,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 40,345,546 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,396,477,000 after purchasing an additional 215,103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.15% of the company’s stock.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total transaction of $9,182,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total transaction of $1,550,250.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 110,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,169,370.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total value of $9,182,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,952,107.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,081 shares of company stock worth $15,448,816 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Microsoft Price Performance
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. The business had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.47%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. 888 reissued a “maintains” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Fundamental Research downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Microsoft from $307.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. StockNews.com started coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Microsoft from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $329.01.
Microsoft Profile
Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.
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