Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is BlueSpruce Investments LP’s Largest Position

BlueSpruce Investments LP trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,341,847 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 70,663 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 15.5% of BlueSpruce Investments LP’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. BlueSpruce Investments LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $667,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 94,120 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,816,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373 shares in the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the first quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $860,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% during the second quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $457,119,000 after purchasing an additional 33,382 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 39.3% during the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $54,376,000 after purchasing an additional 40,860 shares during the period. Finally, Well Done LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% during the second quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,930,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Mizuho downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Rothschild Redb lowered Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $500.00 price target (down previously from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Friday, November 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $600.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $632.34.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $478.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $504.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $502.05. The company has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.03, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.89%.

Microsoft Company 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.