Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Lowered by Dopkins Wealth Management LLC

Dopkins Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,315 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 201 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.7% of Dopkins Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Dopkins Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $9,625,201,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $679,928,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Microsoft by 9.2% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,749,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796,956 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,025,258 shares of company stock valued at $12,160,356 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 price objective (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup cut their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $406.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $303.40 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $413.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $390.05.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

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.