Invesco Ltd. Lowers Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. trimmed its Microsoft stake slightly in the fourth quarter, selling 78,859 shares and ending with 45.23 million shares valued at about $21.88 billion. Microsoft remains Invesco’s second-largest holding.
• Wall Street remains largely bullish on Microsoft, with 41 analysts rating it a Buy and six Hold ratings, giving it a consensus “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $561.20.
• Microsoft’s fundamentals and capital return remain strong: the company beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, and it announced a $0.91 quarterly dividend payable Sept. 10, implying a 1.0% annualized yield.

Invesco Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,233,823 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 78,859 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 3.4% of Invesco Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.61% of Microsoft worth $21,875,981,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after buying an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after acquiring an additional 6,388,930 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911,142 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after acquiring an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $540.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Microsoft from $575.00 to $505.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 9th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $561.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of MSFT opened at $379.40 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $356.28 and a 1 year high of $555.45. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $412.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.90. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly building a more than $1 billion annual AI and cloud business with ByteDance in China, underscoring strong demand for its Azure and OpenAI-related services. Microsoft Scores Massive China AI Win as TikTok Parent Eyes $1 Billion Spend
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s push to monetize ChatGPT with ads highlights continued AI commercialization, which may support sentiment around Microsoft’s OpenAI stake and AI strategy. OpenAI Brings ChatGPT Ads to Japan
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is said to be moving Copilot to usage-based pricing and exploring cheaper AI models, a sign it is trying to improve margins as AI infrastructure costs rise. Microsoft (MSFT) Moves Copilot To Usage Based Pricing As AI Costs Rise
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports say investors are increasingly worried about Microsoft’s AI valuation, spending, and monetization, which is weighing on the stock. Microsoft Faces AI Expectations Test
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also facing securities class-action lawsuits and investigations over alleged misleading AI-related statements, adding legal uncertainty. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC Urges Microsoft Corporation Investors to Act: Class Action Filed Alleging Investor Harm
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft walked away from a potential $3 billion Oracle cloud deal suggest possible friction in securing additional cloud capacity. Why Microsoft Stock Slumped Today

Microsoft Profile

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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