Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Hoey Investments Inc.

Hoey Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 134,519 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 9,208 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 9.5% of Hoey Investments Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Hoey Investments Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $56,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in 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 period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

Microsoft stock traded up $2.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $470.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,271,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,523,496. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $417.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $416.67. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $473.34. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $513.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.