DSM Capital Partners LLC Has $693.78 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

DSM Capital Partners LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,645,967 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 84,699 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 10.7% of DSM Capital Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. DSM Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $693,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $4,439,407,000 after buying an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. 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 in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,032,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 43,900.4% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,042,499 shares of the software giant's stock worth $860,913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,037,857 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $3.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $390.43. The company had a trading volume of 10,038,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,247,445. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $385.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $411.53.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $470.00 price target for the company. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $493.13.

About Microsoft

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.