Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC

J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,578 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 620 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.0% of J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Microsoft by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 43,900.4% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,042,499 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $860,913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,037,857 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Westpark Capital began coverage on Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $499.97.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $367.78 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $388.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $412.78. The company has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

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.