Renaissance Technologies LLC Trims Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Renaissance Technologies LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 99.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,383 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,568,888 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,335,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel grew its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following 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 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $513.89.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $478.87 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $425.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $418.26. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $480.42. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.56, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors 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 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

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.