Capital International Investors Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 76,831,468 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,860 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 6.1% of Capital International Investors’ portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Capital International Investors owned approximately 1.03% of Microsoft worth $32,386,637,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,335,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James upped 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. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.68.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $474.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. 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 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $480.42. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $428.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $418.65.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the 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 owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Corporate 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.