Altshuler Shaham Ltd Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 623,492 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 140,589 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.6% of Altshuler Shaham Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Altshuler Shaham Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $148,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the second quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,893,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 3,482 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $894,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $667,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Rovin Capital UT ADV boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 3,747 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $873,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fountainhead AM LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the second quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC now owns 4,196 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Cowen reduced their target price on Microsoft from $285.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Fundamental Research lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $269.73 to $259.47 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada set a $285.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Credit Suisse Group set a $285.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Microsoft from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.58.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $248.59 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $213.43 and a 12-month high of $315.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $248.71 and its 200-day moving average is $245.75.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.17 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.05% and a return on equity of 39.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total value of $272,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,687,699.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Profile

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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.