S&CO Inc. Sells 2,256 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

S&CO Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 139,927 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,256 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.9% of S&CO Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. S&CO Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $33,557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 35,465.9% in the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $66,852,000 after acquiring an additional 20,553,188 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after acquiring an additional 6,129,708 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Microsoft by 13.8% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 30,893,155 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,524,669,000 after acquiring an additional 3,757,500 shares in the last quarter. Cottage Street Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 17,734.7% in the fourth quarter. Cottage Street Advisors LLC now owns 3,763,300 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 3,742,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft by 73.8% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 8,172,257 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,903,319,000 after purchasing an additional 3,471,095 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Raymond James increased 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on Microsoft from $316.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, Guggenheim increased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.69.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $295.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $263.88. The firm 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.

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 firm had revenue of $52.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.01 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.22 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.68 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.47%.

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.