James Hambro & Partners LLP Has $141.38 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

James Hambro & Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 377,153 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 11,653 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.9% of James Hambro & Partners LLP's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. James Hambro & Partners LLP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $141,380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.3%

MSFT traded down $1.65 on Friday, reaching $510.05. 21,120,811 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,618,181. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $514.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $477.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $428.49.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation 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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "positive" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $541.79.

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.