Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by G&S Capital LLC

G&S Capital LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,220 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 65 shares during the quarter. G&S Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,625,201,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd 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. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 277.8% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,004,341 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,633,912,000 after purchasing an additional 5,150,160 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during 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. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $679,928,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 target price (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie upped their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

Microsoft stock opened at $409.34 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $306.09 and a 12 month high of $430.82. 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 stock 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. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $413.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $392.05.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.