Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Has $379.66 Million Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 763,276 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 27,231 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 3.2% of Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $379,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 155.7% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 29.9% during the second quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Arete Research raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $630.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.33.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5%

MSFT stock opened at $483.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $507.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $500.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.