Kentucky Retirement Systems Lowers Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 560,071 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,218 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 7.3% of Kentucky Retirement Systems’ investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $250,324,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.1% in the second quarter. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,558 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,825,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the second quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 31,640 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,141,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Lokken Investment Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 4.3% during the second quarter. Lokken Investment Group LLC now owns 13,229 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,912,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the period. Beck Bode LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 37.3% during the second quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 39,951 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,856,000 after buying an additional 10,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 22.1% during the 2nd quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 175,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $78,216,000 after acquiring an additional 31,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $408.46 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $353.35 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $420.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $424.74. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.98 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board 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 $0.83 dividend. This is a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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.