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Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 2,819 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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Key Points

  • Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 0.6%, selling 2,819 shares during the first quarter, which now represents 5.8% of its investment portfolio valued at approximately $190.7 million.
  • Microsoft reported earnings of $3.65 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, and achieved a revenue of $76.44 billion, an increase of 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year.
  • Research analysts have varying ratings for Microsoft, with a consensus of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $555.86, indicating strong market confidence in the stock's performance.
  • Interested in Microsoft? Here are five stocks we like better.

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 507,971 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,819 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 5.8% of Kentucky Retirement Systems' portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Kentucky Retirement Systems' holdings in Microsoft were worth $190,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 50.0% during 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 during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $609.86.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Microsoft

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock traded down $9.39 during trading on Friday, hitting $524.11. The company had a trading volume of 28,948,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,331,950. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $488.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $434.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Microsoft

(Free Report)

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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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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