Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Realta Investment Advisors

Realta Investment Advisors reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,898 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,003 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.6% of Realta Investment Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Realta Investment Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 76.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after buying an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222,483 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $359.84 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $359.48 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $399.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $417.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.86.

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.