Barnett & Company Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 77.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,230 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 975 shares during the quarter. Barnett & Company Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,675,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,104,959,000 after buying an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%
Shares of MSFT stock traded up $0.90 on Wednesday, hitting $463.87. The stock had a trading volume of 14,136,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,477,914. The company's 50 day moving average price is $413.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $415.95. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. 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 analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.
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Microsoft Profile
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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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