Shilanski & Associates Inc. Has $4.33 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Shilanski & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,217 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.9% of Shilanski & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Shilanski & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after purchasing an additional 6,129,708 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,824,173,000 after buying an additional 1,951,554 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 200,523,373 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,810,889,000 after buying an additional 1,537,712 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased 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 buying an additional 556,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after acquiring an additional 150,053,637 shares during the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,373 shares in the company, valued at $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was 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 owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total transaction of $8,778,426.55. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 115,049 shares of company stock worth $38,195,619. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim restated a “sell” rating and set a $232.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Microsoft from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $371.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Fundamental Research set a $298.10 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $373.68.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $329.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $213.43 and a 12 month high of $366.78. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $332.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $309.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 28.07%.

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.