Vanderbilt University Boosts Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Vanderbilt University raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 40.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,887 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,539 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.8% of Vanderbilt University’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Vanderbilt University’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sicart Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $692,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kaizen Financial Strategies boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 7,807 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,936,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $434.05.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $409.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $275.37 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The business’s fifty day moving average is $414.59 and its 200-day moving average is $387.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.