Cercano Management LLC Has $462.48 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cercano Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,097,216 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 48,138 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 11.8% of Cercano Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Cercano Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $462,477,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Avondale Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.68.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $2.81 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $477.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 18,742,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,487,285. 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 company's 50-day simple moving average is $436.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $420.16. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $483.25.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

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.