Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by MA Private Wealth

MA Private Wealth trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 47.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,146 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,904 shares during the period. MA Private Wealth’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,539 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 46.1% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $390.58 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $376.91 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $406.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $419.25.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Mizuho cut their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Company 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.