Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Ninety One North America Inc.

Ninety One North America Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 200,417 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 9,186 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 5.2% of Ninety One North America Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Ninety One North America Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $84,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Avondale Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $141,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $508.86.

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Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $6.80 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $382.19. The stock had a trading volume of 19,648,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,595,340. 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 50 day simple moving average of $404.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $418.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $367.24 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 business posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

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.