China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 14,778 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 146,705 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 14,778 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 5.8% of China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $61,836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after purchasing an additional 49,735 shares during the last quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the third quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co now owns 36,946 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,898,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the period. Finally, Patten Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 44,217 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,027,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $395.16 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $376.91 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $407.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $419.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho dropped their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.59.

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.