LA Financiere DE L Echiquier lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 17.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 493,335 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 74,276 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.3% of LA Financiere DE L Echiquier’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. LA Financiere DE L Echiquier’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $152,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 302,541,869 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $101,750,881,000 after purchasing an additional 8,108,943 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 129,107,118 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,313,705,000 after purchasing an additional 3,027,306 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $24,401,940,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 57,181,533 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,231,292,000 after purchasing an additional 584,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 39,096,786 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $13,149,038,000 after purchasing an additional 652,526 shares during the last quarter. 69.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Microsoft Price Performance
MSFT stock opened at $275.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day moving average is $268.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $278.56. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $241.51 and a 1 year high of $349.67.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The software giant reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.06). Microsoft had a return on equity of 43.31% and a net margin of 36.69%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.17 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.73%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $320.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 9th. Credit Suisse Group set a $400.00 target price on Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, July 26th. Guggenheim started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $292.00 target price for the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on Microsoft from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 27th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $334.31.
About Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.
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