Value Partners Investments Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 76.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,307 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 39,412 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.9% of Value Partners Investments Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Value Partners Investments Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,183,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 9.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $565.00 target price (up from $515.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, June 13th. UBS Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock 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 Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $8.60 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $486.00. The stock had a trading volume of 24,799,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,528,626. The company has a market capitalization of $3.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $437.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $420.28. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $489.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given 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 yield of 0.68%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.
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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