Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Lessened by Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC

Key Points

• Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 5.4% to approximately $1.24 billion, making it the largest position in their portfolio.
• In the last quarter, multiple institutional investors made significant moves, with Norges Bank acquiring a new stake worth over $44 billion and GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its holding by over 40,000%.
• Microsoft reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $3.65, exceeding analyst estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 to be paid on September 11th.

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,232,247 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 186,240 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.1% of Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,235,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $609.86.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,743 shares of company stock worth $24,921,913 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

MSFT stock traded up $1.20 on Friday, hitting $522.04. 15,514,819 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,782,852. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.06. The business's fifty day moving average is $496.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $438.17. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Microsoft 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.