Eagle Ridge Investment Management Trims Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Eagle Ridge Investment Management cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 121,281 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,405 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 4.5% of Eagle Ridge Investment Management's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Eagle Ridge Investment Management's holdings in Microsoft were worth $51,120,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Microsoft by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd 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 worth $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT traded down $1.98 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $357.86. The stock had a trading volume of 50,017,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,896,489. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company's 50-day moving average is $397.55 and its 200 day moving average is $416.67. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.93 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. DA Davidson raised Microsoft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $508.00.

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.