Brown Advisory Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Brown Advisory Inc. cut its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,392,605 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 501,435 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 6.1% of Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 0.15% of Microsoft worth $4,801,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,335,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,368,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James upped their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $474.96 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $480.42. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $428.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $418.55. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict 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, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. 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.

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