Baillie Gifford & Co. Sells 31,134 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Baillie Gifford & Co. reduced its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,825,761 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 31,134 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.7% of Baillie Gifford & Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,156,874,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,920,047,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after acquiring an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,587,119,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,000,376,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in Microsoft by 77.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after acquiring an additional 2,744,900 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Argus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup cut their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, New Street Research assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.94.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $428.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.06, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $419.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $424.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $309.45 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Microsoft

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.