Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Islay Capital Management LLC’s 9th Largest Position

Islay Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,254 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 368 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 2.4% of Islay Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Islay Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,439,407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

MSFT opened at $470.92 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $420.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $417.46. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $473.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.92, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented 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 report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Raymond James raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.57.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last quarter. 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.