Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Longbow Finance SA

Key Points

• Longbow Finance SA reduced its stake in Microsoft by 20.5%, now holding approximately $45.80 million worth of shares, which constitutes about 5.5% of its portfolio.
• Several analysts have increased their price targets for Microsoft, with Loop Capital raising it to $600 and Jefferies Financial Group to $675, both with buy ratings.
• Microsoft plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share on September 11, 2023, representing an annualized yield of 0.7%.

Longbow Finance SA reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 20.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 121,997 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 31,404 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 5.5% of Longbow Finance SA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Longbow Finance SA's holdings in Microsoft were worth $45,796,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock traded down $12.97 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $495.00. 31,963,969 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,259,959. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $509.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $450.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.