Sarasin & Partners LLP Has $556.09 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sarasin & Partners LLP trimmed its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 25.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,481,378 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 496,086 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.5% of Sarasin & Partners LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $556,094,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $120,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Mizuho boosted 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. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $521.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% 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 worth $60,224,683 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $495.94 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $499.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $449.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $421.93. The company has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.33, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation 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, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

About Microsoft

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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