Herald Investment Management Ltd Trims Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Herald Investment Management Ltd lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,245 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 755 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.7% of Herald Investment Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Herald Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after buying an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 471.4% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 5,812,933 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,366,153,000 after buying an additional 4,795,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Raymond James increased their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.68.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $474.96 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $428.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $418.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $480.42.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, 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 transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were 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. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.

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