SP Asset Management LLC Reduces Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

SP Asset Management LLC reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,323 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,309 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.8% of SP Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. SP Asset Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $33,856,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after buying an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Microsoft by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after buying an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Microsoft from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.77.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.0%

Microsoft stock traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $449.14. The stock had a trading volume of 22,927,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,492,622. 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 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $390.16 and a 200 day moving average of $411.71.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

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.