Greenwood Capital Associates LLC increased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 64,480 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,407 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.4% of Greenwood Capital Associates LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $31,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant's stock worth $148,823,341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,166,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant's stock worth $88,714,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532,054 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Microsoft Price Performance
Shares of MSFT opened at $420.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $396.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $445.39.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.
Insider Activity at Microsoft
In other news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, January 18th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target 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. TD Cowen raised shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $615.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $562.44.
View Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft
Microsoft News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
About Microsoft
(
Free Report)
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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