Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s Largest Position

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 193,826 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 452 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 5.5% of Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $72,886,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $9,625,201,000. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings 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 worth $6,749,275,000 after buying an additional 1,796,956 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,671,615 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,369,562,000 after purchasing an additional 88,583 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

MSFT stock opened at $406.32 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $414.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $388.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $295.25 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 38.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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 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.

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.