Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Cardano Risk Management B.V.

Cardano Risk Management B.V. trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,150,988 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 10,113 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 13.9% of Cardano Risk Management B.V.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Cardano Risk Management B.V.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $906,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 67.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,566,250,000 after buying an additional 2,404,348 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total value of $423,480.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 56,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,931,278.28. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $414.77 on Thursday. 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’s 50-day moving average is $426.65 and its 200-day moving average is $422.84. The company has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $385.58 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

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.