Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s 6th Largest Position

Capital Investment Counsel Inc lowered its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,637 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,290 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.2% of Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,922,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 76.6% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 4,568,539 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd 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. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,032,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 43,900.4% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,042,499 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $860,913,000 after buying an additional 2,037,857 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.13.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $387.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.18, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $385.28 and a 200-day moving average of $411.53. 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Microsoft Company 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.