MSA Advisors LLC Has $15.98 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

MSA Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 37,900 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,540 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 4.0% of MSA Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. MSA Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,975,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 76.6% during 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $1,116,940,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $0.90 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $463.87. The stock had a trading volume of 14,135,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,449,429. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company's 50 day moving average price is $411.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $415.62.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 132,743 shares of company stock worth $58,835,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Company 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.