Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC Sells 76,395 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 24.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 229,978 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 76,395 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.4% of Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $96,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,420,868 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,284,896,000 after acquiring an additional 32,172 shares in the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $536,200,000. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $18,667,000. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 45,546 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $19,198,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bearing Point Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,313,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

MSFT stock opened at $474.96 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $480.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $428.05 and a 200-day moving average of $418.55.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.68.

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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