Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by GW&K Investment Management LLC

GW&K Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 314,559 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,827 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.1% of GW&K Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. GW&K Investment Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $132,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,334,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $0.89 on Monday, hitting $436.17. 20,112,843 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,367,112. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $384.93 and a 200-day moving average of $411.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion during 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend 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 presently 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.