Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Bought by Morningstar Investment Management LLC

Morningstar Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 35.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 123,508 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 32,237 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 4.1% of Morningstar Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Morningstar Investment Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $52,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 76.6% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in 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 last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 46.1% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third 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. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 43,900.4% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,042,499 shares of the software giant's stock worth $860,913,000 after buying an additional 2,037,857 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Westpark Capital initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $493.13.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $387.30 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $385.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $411.53. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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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