Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by State of Michigan Retirement System

State of Michigan Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,346,867 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 100,400 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 5.1% of State of Michigan Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $989,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Avondale Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Microsoft from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $438.73 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $389.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $411.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.