Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Sells 10,131 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 135,957 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 10,131 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.3% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $57,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PrairieView Partners LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 5,362 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,259,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management grew its holdings in Microsoft by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 14,091 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,939,000 after buying an additional 572 shares during the period. Park Capital Management LLC WI acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,836,000. Castle Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,841 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,570,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares during the period. Finally, Consolidated Planning Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 41,543 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,510,000 after acquiring an additional 5,561 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $388.45 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $391.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $414.41. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 target price for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.