Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Means Investment CO. Inc.

Means Investment CO. Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 107,344 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 434 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.4% of Means Investment CO. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Means Investment CO. Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $147,714,197,000 after acquiring an additional 6,129,708 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,824,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,554 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $50,302,677,000 after acquiring an additional 556,020 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,017,948,000 after buying an additional 150,053,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 142,731,177 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $34,172,705,000 after buying an additional 3,268,917 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Microsoft from $350.00 to $385.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Credit Suisse Group increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $350.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 31st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $345.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Friday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $373.68.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $328.66 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $213.43 and a 52-week high of $366.78. The business’s fifty day moving average is $332.77 and its 200-day moving average is $308.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market cap 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.14. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The company had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.23 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft Company 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.