Stratos Investment Management LLC Sells 922 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Stratos Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 67,737 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 922 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 3.0% of Stratos Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $9,625,201,000. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,796,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,671,615 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,369,562,000 after purchasing an additional 88,583 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, 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 worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

MSFT opened at $402.25 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $414.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $389.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $303.40 and a one year high of $430.82.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 target price (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Company 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.