Rational Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Rational Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,513 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 748 shares during the quarter. Rational Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,431,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,528 shares of the software giant's stock worth $11,603,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 52.6% during the fourth quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. now owns 17,700 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,461,000 after buying an additional 6,100 shares in the last quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,958 shares of the software giant's stock worth $825,000 after buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 284.7% during the fourth quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 416,782 shares of the software giant's stock worth $175,673,000 after buying an additional 308,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 26.2% during the fourth quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. now owns 147,132 shares of the software giant's stock worth $62,016,000 after buying an additional 30,502 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank initiated 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 on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $497.63.

Microsoft Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $11.13 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $377.95. 4,482,807 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,177,769. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $386.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $411.95. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. 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 0.88%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

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.