Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Manitou Investment Management Ltd.'s 5th Largest Position

Manitou Investment Management Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 104,043 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 9,795 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 7.6% of Manitou Investment Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Manitou Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $39,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $534.14.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was 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 directly owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1%

MSFT stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Monday, reaching $503.02. 12,049,546 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,635,317. The firm's 50 day moving average is $471.98 and its 200 day moving average is $426.18. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $506.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

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.