Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Successful Portfolios LLC

Successful Portfolios LLC cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,957 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 790 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 4.0% of Successful Portfolios LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Successful Portfolios LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after buying an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 842,884 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,591,126,000 after acquiring an additional 277,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 403,409 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

Microsoft stock opened at $408.90 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $429.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $422.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $494.72.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company 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.