Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is FIL Ltd’s Largest Position

FIL Ltd lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFTFree Report) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,384,811 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 192,464 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.3% of FIL Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. FIL Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,534,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $120,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.3%

MSFT opened at $478.87 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.56, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $480.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $425.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $418.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFTGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Scotiabank raised their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $513.89.

Get Our Latest Analysis on MSFT

Microsoft Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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