Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s 10th Largest Position

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,444 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 812 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 0.8% of Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,763,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 37,802 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 19,577 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,750,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2 %

Microsoft stock opened at $409.40 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $428.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

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.