Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Renaissance Group LLC’s 7th Largest Position

Renaissance Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 97,830 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,766 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.7% of Renaissance Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Renaissance Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $41,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $4,439,407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft 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 approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $513.89.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $478.87 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $425.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $418.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $480.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.