Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s 2nd Largest Position

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 6.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 200,532 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 13,495 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.7% of Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $46,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its position in Microsoft by 20.8% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $351,001,000 after purchasing an additional 196,338 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Powell Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% during the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

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

Microsoft Stock Up 2.7 %

MSFT stock opened at $260.79 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.98, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.89 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $249.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $245.09.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 30.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $285.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $305.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $247.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $285.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 19th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.58.

Microsoft Company 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.