Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Has $1.06 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 76.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,410 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 14,259 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.9% of Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 25,001 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,996,000 after purchasing an additional 651 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 44,418 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,652,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its stake in Microsoft by 199.7% in the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 107,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,356,000 after purchasing an additional 71,769 shares in the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management grew its stake in Microsoft by 41.9% in the third quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 2,908 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $677,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,999,000. 69.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.8 %

MSFT stock opened at $315.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $293.30 and a 200 day moving average of $263.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $213.43 and a 52 week high of $322.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 29.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.87, for a total value of $1,584,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 89,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,305,363.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.87, for a total value of $1,584,350.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 89,328 shares in the company, valued at $28,305,363.36. 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 transaction of $9,182,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,456 shares in the company, valued at $35,952,107.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,848 shares of company stock worth $16,635,227. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Atlantic Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Macquarie upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $260.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Microsoft from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Fundamental Research downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $325.00 to $347.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.28.

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.