Davis Selected Advisers Has $29.41 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Davis Selected Advisers increased its Microsoft stake by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, ending with 60,801 shares valued at about $29.4 million.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.27 beating estimates and revenue of $82.89 billion rising 18.3% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, while analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $560.88.

Davis Selected Advisers raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,801 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 8,495 shares during the quarter. Davis Selected Advisers' holdings in Microsoft were worth $29,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $450.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business's fifty day moving average price is $402.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $434.62. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $560.88.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia teased “a new era of PC,” with reports pointing to new Surface hardware and a possible AI-focused chip announcement at Computex, which could refresh the Windows/PC upgrade cycle. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft will unveil a new coding model and other in-house AI tools at next week’s Build conference reinforce the company’s AI monetization story and support sentiment around GitHub Copilot and Azure demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings backdrop remains solid, with revenue growth of 18.3% and better-than-expected EPS, helping investors justify the stock’s premium valuation.
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish writeups and analyst commentary say MSFT still has room to run because Azure, M365 cloud, and AI revenue are expanding faster than the broader software market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also drawing attention from investors, fund managers, and even congressional buyers, which supports the stock’s defensive-growth reputation but does not change fundamentals on its own.
• Negative Sentiment: A TechCrunch report says Microsoft is facing backlash for threatening a security researcher over unpatched bugs and code disclosure, adding some reputational noise ahead of Build. Article Title

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

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