Metropolis Capital Ltd Acquires 309,099 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Metropolis Capital Ltd grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 42.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,030,688 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 309,099 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 14.4% of Metropolis Capital Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Metropolis Capital Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $386,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Steele Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 3.3% during the first quarter. Steele Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,563 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,467,000 after buying an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Kelly Financial Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 10.3% during the first quarter. Kelly Financial Group LLC now owns 9,902 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,717,000 after buying an additional 926 shares in the last quarter. RTD Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 11.6% during the first quarter. RTD Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $729,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.4% during the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 24,797 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,308,000 after buying an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Powers Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the first quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,256 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,352,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Wall Street Zen downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays increased their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group restated a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Microsoft from $485.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Four equities research 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $538.04.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of MSFT opened at $505.62 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $474.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $427.28. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $508.30. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.07, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.