GFS Advisors LLC Sells 6,488 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

GFS Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,700 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 6,488 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.9% of GFS Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. GFS Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $9,625,201,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,190 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $679,928,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Microsoft by 9.2% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,749,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796,956 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $406.32 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $295.25 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business’s 50 day moving average is $414.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $388.12. The company has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

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.