Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is CapWealth Advisors LLC's 4th Largest Position

CapWealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 91,469 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,567 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 4.2% of CapWealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. CapWealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $38,554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $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% in the third 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 worth $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock traded down $3.83 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $367.78. The stock had a trading volume of 20,940,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,246,383. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $388.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $412.70. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 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 $2.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 price objective (down previously from $500.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Westpark Capital started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $499.97.

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.