Arizona State Retirement System Buys 24,178 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,056,059 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 24,178 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.3% of Arizona State Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $866,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Sequent Asset Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $853,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the third quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,380,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Riverstone Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,941,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $438.73 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $389.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $411.54. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.77.

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.