Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Fisher Asset Management LLC's 3rd Largest Position

Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,228,502 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 324,052 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 4.7% of Fisher Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned about 0.38% of Microsoft worth $11,898,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management grew its position in Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $141,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson raised their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $438.73. 15,313,766 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,454,441. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business's 50-day moving average price is $389.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $411.63. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (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 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft's 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.