Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is King Luther Capital Management Corp's 2nd Largest Position

King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,973,495 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 28,333 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 5.4% of King Luther Capital Management Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. King Luther Capital Management Corp's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,253,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,789,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,274,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,250,128 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,980,299,000 after buying an additional 217,509 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. 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 research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $510.30.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock traded up $4.60 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $458.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,313,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,562,400. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $395.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $412.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.95, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 94,243 shares of company stock valued at $41,288,738. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.