Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Tsfg LLC

Tsfg LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,621 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 305 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second 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 increased its stake in 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in 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 valued at $2,566,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404,348 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in Microsoft by 46.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,222,483 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.9 %

Microsoft stock opened at $408.25 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $425.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $422.69.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business earned $2.93 EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total value of $423,480.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,931,278.28. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

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.