Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Increased by Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC

Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 816,331 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 21,894 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 7.5% of Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $344,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,675,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,579 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $3.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $474.96. 16,804,288 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,539,207. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $480.42. The company's 50 day moving average is $428.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $418.58. 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 $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's 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 now directly owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group lowered their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.68.

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.