Anatole Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 107,649 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $45,374,000. Microsoft makes up about 20.9% of Anatole Investment Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position.
Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,515,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,274,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.68.
Read Our Latest Analysis on MSFT
Microsoft Stock Performance
MSFT opened at $474.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $480.42. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The business's fifty day moving average is $428.05 and its 200-day moving average is $418.58.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.
Insider Activity
In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
About Microsoft
(
Free Report)
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.
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