Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is New York State Teachers Retirement System’s 2nd Largest Position

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,707,610 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 238,747 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 6.5% of New York State Teachers Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.10% of Microsoft worth $2,898,370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Sicart Associates LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $692,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $476,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kaizen Financial Strategies boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 7,807 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,936,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $406.32 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $414.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $388.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $295.25 and a 52-week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

About Microsoft

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.