Norris Perne & French LLP MI Cuts Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Norris Perne & French LLP MI lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 225,110 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 691 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 6.3% of Norris Perne & French LLP MI’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Norris Perne & French LLP MI’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $84,504,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This 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 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $551.21.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $513.71 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $518.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $483.52 and its 200-day moving average is $431.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.70, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

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.