Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $843.42 Million Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Teacher Retirement System of Texas decreased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,246,776 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 251,636 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.5% of Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $843,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fosun International Ltd grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. now owns 533 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,350 shares of company stock valued at $14,162,567 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $609.86.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $520.17 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $502.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $441.19. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.14, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation 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, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

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.