Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Has $28.08 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 83.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,625 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 340,736 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $28,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. 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 worth $20,675,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four 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.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $462.97 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.28, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The business’s 50-day moving average is $411.89 and its 200 day moving average is $415.62.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 132,743 shares of company stock worth $58,835,683 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.