Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Lifted by Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC

Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 191,793 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 8,726 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 3.3% of Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $80,841,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after acquiring an additional 49,735 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank upped their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $30.14 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $425.40. The company had a trading volume of 58,840,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,314,175. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $383.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $410.91. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

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.