Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Reduced by Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA trimmed its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 991,541 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 10,171 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 8.5% of Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA's holdings in Microsoft were worth $372,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $2.80 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $505.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,877,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,608,541. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $471.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $508.28. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued 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 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $534.14.

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.