Aldebaran Capital LLC Reduces Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Aldebaran Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,175 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 727 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 9.3% of Aldebaran Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Aldebaran Capital LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,675,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 39,829,031 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,787,934,000 after purchasing an additional 1,408,374 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.89.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $6.25 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $478.87. The stock had a trading volume of 18,905,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,503,895. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $423.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $417.84. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $480.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

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.