Ingalls & Snyder LLC Sells 1,885 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ingalls & Snyder LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 213,991 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,885 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 3.5% of Ingalls & Snyder LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Ingalls & Snyder LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $90,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% during the third 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 worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,322,513,000 after purchasing an additional 652,493 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position 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. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.9 %

MSFT stock opened at $388.45 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $391.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $414.41. 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 has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 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 in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price target on the stock. Westpark Capital initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $505.41.

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.