MWA Asset Management Cuts Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

MWA Asset Management trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,301 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.2% of MWA Asset Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. MWA Asset Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,874,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Microsoft by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,749,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796,956 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,671,615 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,369,562,000 after acquiring an additional 88,583 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,620,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,353,488,000 after acquiring an additional 207,591 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $399.04 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $414.44 and a 200 day moving average of $387.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $292.73 and a 12-month high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The company’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Macquarie lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.05.

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.