Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 47,382 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,576 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.0% of Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after buying an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 76.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after buying an additional 4,568,539 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $1,116,940,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $3.81 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $467.68. 20,094,702 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,489,870. The company has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $469.58. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $413.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $415.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.