Perpetual Ltd cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 34.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 428,353 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 227,876 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.9% of Perpetual Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $160,799,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,375,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Microsoft Trading Down 0.8%
Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $520.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.18, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $495.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $437.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.
View Our Latest Research Report on MSFT
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
About Microsoft
(
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.
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