Farallon Capital Management LLC Sells 127,120 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Farallon Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,211,458 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 127,120 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.3% of Farallon Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Farallon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $509,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Camelot Portfolios LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 49.8% during the fourth quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC now owns 1,467 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Etfidea LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Etfidea LLC now owns 2,006 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $754,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Visionary Horizons LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,314,000. Coston McIsaac & Partners grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 11,781 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,430,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Semus Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,989 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,132,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. New Street Research initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $494.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $416.79 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.09, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $435.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $422.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

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.