Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab Acquires 90,773 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,038,404 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 90,773 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 7.2% of Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $502,193,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. HSBC dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $615.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.88.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 3.5%

Microsoft stock opened at $426.99 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $400.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $434.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is expected to showcase new homegrown AI models at Build, including a coding model that could improve GitHub Copilot and support future developer adoption. Microsoft to release new coding model next week, the Information reports
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary is turning more bullish on Microsoft’s AI revenue potential, with Morgan Stanley and HSBC both suggesting the market may be underestimating future upside from Azure, Copilot, and the Anthropic relationship. Is Wall Street underestimating MSFT AI revenue potential? Morgan Stanley weighs in
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also benefited from a broad tech rally, with AI and software stocks leading the market higher late in the session. Sector Update: Tech Stocks Rise Late Afternoon
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft secured a five-year $9.69 billion Pentagon software deal that consolidates government licensing and reinforces its entrenched enterprise and public-sector position. Pentagon awards Microsoft $9.7 billion deal in bid to cut costs, end license sprawl
• Neutral Sentiment: Some articles also note Microsoft’s heavy AI spending and the risk of capital misallocation across the sector, which could keep valuation debates active even as the stock trends higher. Peter Schiff: The $1 Trillion AI CapEx Bubble Is Hiding a Massive Capital Misallocation

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).