Artemis Investment Management LLP Reduces Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Artemis Investment Management LLP lessened its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 19.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 507,831 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 125,684 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.9% of Artemis Investment Management LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Artemis Investment Management LLP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $190,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth 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. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $522.04 on Friday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $496.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $438.29. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $609.86.

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.

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