Belmont Capital LLC lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 13.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,438 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 14,893 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 6.5% of Belmont Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Belmont Capital LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $40,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Capital International Ltd. CA boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 307,156 shares of the software giant's stock worth $129,466,000 after purchasing an additional 4,818 shares during the period. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 22,317 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,204 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Bank increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 135,200 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $56,987,000 after purchasing an additional 6,584 shares in the last quarter. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. now owns 66,776 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,146,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Sarl increased its holdings in Microsoft by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 531,993 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $224,235,000 after acquiring an additional 43,064 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 23rd. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.68.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on MSFT
Microsoft Stock Performance
Shares of MSFT opened at $474.96 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $480.42. The company has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $428.05 and a 200-day moving average of $418.65.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.
Insider Activity
In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Microsoft Company Profile
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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.
See Also
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