Trivest Advisors Ltd decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 21.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 365,000 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 101,000 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 7.0% of Trivest Advisors Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Trivest Advisors Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $153,848,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,675,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,579 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,228,502 shares of the software giant's stock worth $11,898,314,000 after buying an additional 324,052 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.13.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft
Microsoft Stock Performance
NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $3.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $457.36. 16,984,314 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,567,190. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $405.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $414.29. 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 fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The business 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 $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Profile
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Free Report)
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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