Berkeley Inc Lowers Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Berkeley Inc lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 50.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,281 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 9,279 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.0% of Berkeley Inc's holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Berkeley Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $4.11 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $490.11. The company had a trading volume of 22,297,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,554,224. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $441.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $420.91. The company has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $491.85.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.