Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Decreases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 943,354 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 32,688 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.5% of Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $354,739,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Security Advisor Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,255,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during 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. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,089,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,497,000 after purchasing an additional 5,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. 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 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 target price (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $402.25 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $303.40 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $414.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $389.01. The stock has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

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.