Blueshift Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 64.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,264 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 5,831 shares during the quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 18,378 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,908,000 after acquiring an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Microsoft Price Performance
Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $0.40 during trading on Friday, reaching $459.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,351,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,529,499. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $407.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $414.89.
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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.
Insider Activity at Microsoft
In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $513.13.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
Microsoft Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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