Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by General Partner Inc.

General Partner Inc. decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,751 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 807 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 7.6% of General Partner Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. General Partner Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,956,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% in 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 buying an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,591,126,000 after purchasing an additional 277,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,381,692 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,544,532,000 after purchasing an additional 403,409 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. New Street Research started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price target for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,964 shares of company stock worth $6,245,404 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $413.49 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $434.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.87. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $309.45 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the company posted $2.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

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.