Bradyco Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bradyco Inc. cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,131 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,810 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 9.4% of Bradyco Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Bradyco Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,437,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $530.00 target price (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $534.14.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $503.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $471.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.18. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $506.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were 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 owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.

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