Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,111,977 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 716,293 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.9% of Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,922,122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the third quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 67,307 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $21,252,000 after acquiring an additional 13,586 shares during the last quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,958 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,144,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 108,149 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $34,495,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays increased their price target 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. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $402.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $414.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $389.01. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $303.40 and a 1 year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

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.