Applied Capital LLC Has $488,000 Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Applied Capital LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,297 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. Applied Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $679,928,000. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Microsoft by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,749,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796,956 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 243.6% during the 3rd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,151,555 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $679,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,367 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $434.05.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $400.96 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $275.37 and a 12-month high of $430.82. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $414.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $386.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 27.12%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Profile

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.