Klingman & Associates LLC Sells 1,703 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Klingman & Associates LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,649 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,703 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,625,201,000. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup cut their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Macquarie increased their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, 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 Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $412.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $306.26 and a one year high of $430.82. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $413.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $392.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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