Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Has $550.46 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 19.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,231,581 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 304,483 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 4.9% of Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $550,455,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the first 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 during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after purchasing an additional 842,884 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,587,576,000 after buying an additional 45,220 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,640,068 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,096,428,000 after acquiring an additional 360,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Microsoft by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,931,721 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,019,942,000 after acquiring an additional 1,613,050 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.94.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $428.15 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $420.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $424.56. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $326.94 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.07, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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 given a $0.83 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.74%.

Microsoft 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.