Copeland Capital Management LLC Acquires 4,196 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,473 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,196 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. 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 purchasing an additional 150,053,637 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $20,700,525,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 35,465.9% during the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $66,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,553,188 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 119,417,954 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,638,815,000 after purchasing an additional 14,652,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 348.6% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 11,998,927 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $894,426,000 after acquiring an additional 9,324,182 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $413.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $415.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $383.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $275.37 and a 1 year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Macquarie upped their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $430.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.