Mayport LLC Reduces Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mayport LLC decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,220 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 618 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.6% of Mayport LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Mayport LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its position 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 in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $9,625,201,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,749,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796,956 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value 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 $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $409.34 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $413.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $392.05. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $306.09 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Macquarie lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

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.