Rathbones Group PLC Acquires 56,464 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Rathbones Group PLC raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,412,385 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 56,464 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 7.0% of Rathbones Group PLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Rathbones Group PLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,438,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position 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. increased its stake in 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. raised its position 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 worth $4,439,407,000 after buying an additional 4,568,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $3.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $474.96. 16,804,288 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,485,191. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $425.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $418.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $480.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm 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%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.68.

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.