Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc.'s 5th Largest Position

Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 240,352 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 689 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.7% of Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $101,308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 76.6% during 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 buying an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third 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 valued at $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 43,900.4% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,042,499 shares of the software giant's stock worth $860,913,000 after buying an additional 2,037,857 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $512.63.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 110,243 shares of company stock worth $48,619,618. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT traded down $5.60 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $452.57. The stock had a trading volume of 19,196,249 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,549,924. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $398.43 and a 200-day moving average of $413.04. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.44, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

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.