Martin & Co. Inc. TN Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Martin & Co. Inc. TN cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,292 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,275 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.0% of Martin & Co. Inc. TN's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Martin & Co. Inc. TN's holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in 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 valued at $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,322,513,000 after acquiring an additional 652,493 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,104,959,000 after acquiring an additional 406,940 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 27,904,450 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $12,007,285,000 after acquiring an additional 636,713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $367.78 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $388.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $412.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $470.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Westpark Capital started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $499.97.

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.

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