Global X Japan Co. Ltd. Has $27.09 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 44.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 60,603 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 18,638 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.8% of Global X Japan Co. Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Global X Japan Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at about $5,587,119,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after buying an additional 3,078,099 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter worth $989,814,000. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at about $846,072,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $428.15 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $326.94 and a one year high of $468.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $420.40 and a 200 day moving average of $424.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.07, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.74%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Company Profile

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.