Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by CKW Financial Group

Posted by on Oct 10th, 2023

CKW Financial Group grew its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 4.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,323 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.5% of CKW Financial Group’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. CKW Financial Group’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,017,948,000 after purchasing an additional 150,053,637 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $20,700,525,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 35,465.9% during the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $66,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,553,188 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 29,789.2% during the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,570,893 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,477,000 after purchasing an additional 16,515,452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 119,417,954 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,638,815,000 after purchasing an additional 14,652,150 shares during the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total value of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total value of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 115,049 shares of company stock valued at $38,195,619. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. HSBC assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Friday, September 15th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $347.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $345.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Argus lifted their target price on Microsoft from $371.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Microsoft from $340.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Finally, Fundamental Research set a $298.10 target price on Microsoft and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $376.34.

View Our Latest Report on Microsoft

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $329.82 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $213.43 and a twelve month high of $366.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $324.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $320.41. The stock has a market cap of $2.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 28.07%.

About Microsoft

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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