Retirement Systems of Alabama Reduces Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,682,828 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 119,006 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.9% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $883,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% in the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Microsoft by 20.8% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $351,001,000 after buying an additional 196,338 shares in the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% in the first quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,919,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $318.34 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $213.43 and a one year high of $319.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 1.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $290.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $261.67.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $52.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.01 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.22 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their target price on Microsoft from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Microsoft from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $290.00 to $348.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Guggenheim raised their price target on Microsoft from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Microsoft from $307.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.28.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total transaction of $9,182,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total value of $1,550,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 110,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,169,370.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total value of $9,182,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,456 shares in the company, valued at $35,952,107.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,848 shares of company stock valued at $16,635,227 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Profile

(Get Rating)

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.