Griffith & Werner Inc. Acquires New Shares in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Griffith & Werner Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 12,947 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $5,457,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.6% of Griffith & Werner Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock worth $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of MSFT traded down $2.84 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $477.40. The stock had a trading volume of 37,241,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,559,872. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $436.07 and a 200 day moving average of $420.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.89, a P/E/G 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 released 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 net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. 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 company earned $2.94 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.70%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $565.00 target price (up from $515.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Microsoft

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.