Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Intermede Investment Partners Ltd’s Largest Position

Intermede Investment Partners Ltd lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 618,545 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 114,407 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 7.0% of Intermede Investment Partners Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Intermede Investment Partners Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $260,717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.30.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $458.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $396.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $412.71.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 94,243 shares of company stock worth $41,288,738. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.