Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Twin Capital Management Inc.'s 2nd Largest Position

Twin Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 131,973 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 4,437 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 6.1% of Twin Capital Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Twin Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $55,627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during 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 buying an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 buying 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 valued at $4,439,407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America dropped their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays raised their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT traded down $3.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $474.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,804,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,485,191. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $480.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $425.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $418.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its 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 quarter last year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's 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. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.