Fiduciary Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,500 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,102 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 4.0% of Fiduciary Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Fiduciary Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $39,410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after buying an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $4,439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 43,900.4% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,042,499 shares of the software giant's stock worth $860,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,037,857 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Microsoft Stock Performance
NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $459.26. The stock had a trading volume of 1,957,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,508,213. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. 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 $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.95, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $407.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $414.89.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company 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 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.
Microsoft Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Featured Articles
Before you consider Microsoft, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Microsoft wasn't on the list.
While Microsoft currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Today, we are inviting you to take a free peek at our proprietary, exclusive, and up-to-the-minute list of 20 stocks that Wall Street's top analysts hate.
Many of these appear to have good fundamentals and might seem like okay investments, but something is wrong. Analysts smell something seriously rotten about these companies. These are true "Strong Sell" stocks.
Get This Free Report
