Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. Has $8.30 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,702 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,138 shares during the period. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,304,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $20,675,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,579 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,228,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,898,314,000 after buying an additional 324,052 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $450.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $403.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $414.03. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

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.