ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd Raises Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 81.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 440,815 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 197,740 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 6.5% of ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $185,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Avondale Wealth Management raised its holdings in Microsoft by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,243 shares of company stock valued at $48,619,618 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $512.63.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $5.60 on Wednesday, hitting $452.57. 19,196,249 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,549,924. 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 $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $398.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $413.04.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th 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 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

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.