Troy Asset Management Ltd Cuts Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Troy Asset Management Ltd lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 847,778 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 50,025 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 12.0% of Troy Asset Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Troy Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $357,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. RiverFront Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 180,685 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $76,159,000 after purchasing an additional 14,186 shares during the last quarter. Pamplona Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $92,756,000. DnB Asset Management AS raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 41.4% during the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 4,656,797 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,962,840,000 after buying an additional 1,363,885 shares during the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 141,959 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $59,836,000 after buying an additional 2,851 shares during the period. Finally, NBZ Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $1,239,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $2.70 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $470.38. 15,268,509 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,465,117. The company's 50 day moving average is $415.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $416.31. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $473.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

About Microsoft

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.