Sarasin & Partners LLP Has $487.18 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sarasin & Partners LLP cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,689,844 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 76,547 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 5.6% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $487,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,422,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its position in Microsoft by 20.8% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $351,001,000 after purchasing an additional 196,338 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.2% in the first quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Powell Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 16.2% in the first quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 8.2% in the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3 %

Microsoft stock opened at $328.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.92, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $213.43 and a one year high of $366.78. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $332.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $307.81.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 34.15% and a return on equity of 38.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.23 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 16th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Microsoft from $411.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Microsoft from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Redburn Partners cut their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $350.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $373.68.

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.