Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Boosted by Ashburton Jersey Ltd

Ashburton Jersey Ltd lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 19.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 71,082 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 11,614 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 13.2% of Ashburton Jersey Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Ashburton Jersey Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $29,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management increased its position in Microsoft by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $120,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.89.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.3%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $6.25 on Thursday, hitting $478.87. The stock had a trading volume of 18,905,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,507,291. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $480.37. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $423.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $417.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 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.