Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.'s 3rd Largest Position

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,314,488 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 73,618 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 5.2% of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of Microsoft worth $7,719,557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after purchasing an additional 49,735 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $508.86.

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Microsoft Trading Down 3.6 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $359.84 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $359.48 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $399.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $417.40.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 period last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

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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