National Pension Service Sells 109,196 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

National Pension Service lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,120,218 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 109,196 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 5.2% of National Pension Service's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. National Pension Service owned about 0.18% of Microsoft worth $5,530,172,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,250,128 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,980,299,000 after purchasing an additional 217,509 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $9.88 on Friday, reaching $435.28. The stock had a trading volume of 30,732,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,356,359. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $384.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $411.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

Microsoft 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.