Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Lessened by Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,041 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,677 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.8% of Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,322,513,000 after acquiring an additional 652,493 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $470.00 price target on the stock. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $499.97.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $3.83 during trading on Friday, reaching $367.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,940,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,246,383. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's 50-day moving average is $388.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $412.73. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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 firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. 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.