LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Has $65.51 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 155,416 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 19,427 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 5.7% of LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $65,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,322,513,000 after acquiring an additional 652,493 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,104,959,000 after acquiring an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,228,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,898,314,000 after acquiring an additional 324,052 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.1 %

MSFT stock opened at $438.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $388.19 and its 200-day moving average is $411.61.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. TD Securities raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.77.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Microsoft

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.