Krane Funds Advisors LLC Buys 1,437 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Krane Funds Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 23.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,615 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,437 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.1% of Krane Funds Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Krane Funds Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after buying an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,096,913,000 after buying an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,350 shares of company stock valued at $21,493,447. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $520.17 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $502.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $441.01. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp raised Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.86.

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.