Polen Capital Management LLC Sells 601,583 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Polen Capital Management LLC decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,410,882 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 601,583 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 7.3% of Polen Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Polen Capital Management LLC owned 0.09% of Microsoft worth $2,702,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,334,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group decreased their price target 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, Raymond James raised their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four research 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 presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $450.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $402.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $413.88.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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