Capital International Sarl Boosts Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Capital International Sarl boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 531,993 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,064 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 5.2% of Capital International Sarl’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $224,235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC increased its holdings 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 during the period. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 during the period. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James upped their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Securities upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.68.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of MSFT opened at $474.96 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $428.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $418.65. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $480.42. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company 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%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% 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, 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 value 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. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have 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 company insiders.

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.