Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $735.89 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,646,459 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 14,087 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.5% of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $735,885,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $75,000. Bellevue Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter worth $80,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Argus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $410.37 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.77 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.86, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $420.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $424.55.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.73% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.75%.

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.