Blue Whale Capital LLP Sells 68,264 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Blue Whale Capital LLP decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 50.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 67,343 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 68,264 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.1% of Blue Whale Capital LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Blue Whale Capital LLP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $28,385,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Rathbones Group PLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 3,412,385 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,438,320,000 after purchasing an additional 56,464 shares during the period. U S Wealth Group LLC. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $5,143,000. Twin Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 131,973 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $55,627,000 after purchasing an additional 4,437 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 39,248,561 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,543,268,000 after purchasing an additional 578,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 969,365 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,909,468,000 after purchasing an additional 18,160 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft 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 approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Raymond James lifted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank upped their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $3.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $425.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $418.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $480.42. The company 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.