Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC Has $52.52 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 139,655 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,554 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.4% of Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $52,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sicart Associates LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,434,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.3% in the third quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,256 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $712,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Sonen Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the third quarter. Sonen Capital LLC now owns 10,132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perritt Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% during the third quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. now owns 937 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Raymond James increased their target price on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $432.13.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $399.12 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $275.37 and a 12-month high of $430.82. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $385.33. The company has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given 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 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Microsoft

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.