Employees Retirement System of Texas Has $408.59 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 969,365 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 18,160 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.5% of Employees Retirement System of Texas' portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Microsoft were worth $408,587,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in 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 last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $565.00 price target (up from $515.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.68.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $477.40 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $483.46. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $437.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $420.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. 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 is presently 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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