Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Decreased by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,369,738 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,145,679 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 4.8% of New York State Common Retirement Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,346,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 35,465.9% during the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $66,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,553,188 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 621,598,157 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $191,644,927,000 after purchasing an additional 5,648,095 shares during the period. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. increased its stake in Microsoft by 11,434.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. now owns 5,460,976 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,413,630 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $981,125,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Microsoft by 13.8% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 30,893,155 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,524,669,000 after acquiring an additional 3,757,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $285.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $247.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Macquarie initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $234.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.58.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $250.16 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $246.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $247.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $315.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 39.87% and a net margin of 33.05%. The firm had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 24,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.27, for a total value of $6,139,094.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 150,047 shares in the company, valued at $38,152,450.69. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 24,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.27, for a total value of $6,139,094.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 150,047 shares in the company, valued at $38,152,450.69. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total value of $272,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,687,699.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,144 shares of company stock worth $6,680,795 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Profile

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.