Allred Capital Management LLC Has $19.23 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Allred Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,612 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 251 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 7.4% of Allred Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Allred Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 471.4% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 5,812,933 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,366,153,000 after acquiring an additional 4,795,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

MSFT stock opened at $474.96 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $480.42. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $428.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $418.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Raymond James increased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $515.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was 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 approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.