Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Lessened by Trust Point Inc.

Trust Point Inc. cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 27.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,597 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 14,151 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.3% of Trust Point Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Trust Point Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,738,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $541.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were 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 owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.3%

MSFT stock traded down $1.65 during trading on Friday, hitting $510.05. 21,120,811 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,618,181. The firm's 50 day moving average is $477.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $428.54. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $514.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company 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 firm's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.