Brighton Jones LLC Has $296.04 Million Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Brighton Jones LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 24.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 788,622 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 252,185 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 9.5% of Brighton Jones LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $296,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.9% during 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 buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $1.65 on Friday, reaching $510.05. 21,120,811 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,618,181. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $514.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company's 50 day moving average is $477.78 and its 200-day moving average is $428.49.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $581.00 price target (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $541.79.

Microsoft 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.