River Global Investors LLP Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

River Global Investors LLP lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1,200.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,822 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 77,374 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 7.8% of River Global Investors LLP's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. River Global Investors LLP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $36,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 12,435 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,558,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 5,450 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,436,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 19.2% in the second quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 20,385 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,111,000 after buying an additional 3,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barnes Pettey Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the second quarter. Barnes Pettey Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,031,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Loop Capital increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $511.62.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $10.36 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $426.03. The stock had a trading volume of 8,688,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,715,867. The firm has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $384.81 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The business's 50-day moving average is $429.08 and its 200 day moving average is $426.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.