Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd

ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 436,920 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 29,742 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 5.2% of ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $164,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the third quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,497,000 after acquiring an additional 5,366 shares in the last quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,967,000 after acquiring an additional 6,484 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.7% in the third quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,471 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,516,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bensler LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% in the third quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 86,932 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $27,449,000 after acquiring an additional 2,674 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Three investment 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $406.32 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $414.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $388.12. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $295.25 and a 52 week high of $430.82.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 38.87%. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.45 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. 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.