Centre Asset Management LLC Sells 10,115 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Centre Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 12.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,343 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 10,115 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.3% of Centre Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Centre Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 46,940 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,257,000 after buying an additional 952 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. raised its stake in Microsoft by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. now owns 10,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,398,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Fernwood Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Fernwood Investment Management LLC now owns 7,740 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,856,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Palo Alto Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $6,914,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,570,951 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,815,665,000 after buying an additional 180,273 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $325.92 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $213.43 and a 1 year high of $326.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $295.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $263.88.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 29.47%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.87, for a total transaction of $1,584,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 89,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,305,363.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,848 shares of company stock valued at $16,635,227 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $290.00 to $348.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. One research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.69.

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.