Berkeley Capital Partners LLC Has $6.37 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Berkeley Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,105 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 121 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.8% of Berkeley Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,675,715,000 after buying an additional 1,823,579 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,228,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,898,314,000 after purchasing an additional 324,052 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $450.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $403.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $414.03. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $513.13.

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.