Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Gallacher Capital Management LLC

Gallacher Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,599 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 243 shares during the period. Gallacher Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,095,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,675,715,000 after acquiring an additional 1,823,579 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,228,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,898,314,000 after purchasing an additional 324,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $454.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $401.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $413.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

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.