Southeast Asset Advisors LLC Has $15.46 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Southeast Asset Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,687 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,402 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.9% of Southeast Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,463,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 76.6% in the 4th 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 holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.3%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $478.87 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $480.42. The company has a 50 day moving average of $425.64 and a 200-day moving average of $418.26. The company 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business earned $2.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect 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 paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Securities raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $513.89.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.