Baird Financial Group Inc. Has $2.28 Billion Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,420,868 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 32,172 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 4.4% of Baird Financial Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Microsoft worth $2,284,896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. increased its position in Microsoft by 471.4% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 5,812,933 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,366,153,000 after purchasing an additional 4,795,536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm'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 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. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $565.00 price target (up from $515.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9%

MSFT traded up $4.18 on Monday, hitting $479.14. 15,536,581 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,515,256. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $428.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $418.55. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $480.64. 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 market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st 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 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.