Sandhill Capital Partners LLC Sells 71 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,192 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 71 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 0.9% of Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,096,913,000 after buying an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Microsoft by 76.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.89.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $478.87 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $425.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $418.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $480.42.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft Company 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.