V Square Quantitative Management LLC Has $57.36 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 136,088 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 5,057 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 8.2% of V Square Quantitative Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. V Square Quantitative Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $57,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% during 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 worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 652,493 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,104,959,000 after buying an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $470.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho lowered their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $499.97.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

Microsoft stock traded down $3.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $367.78. The stock had a trading volume of 20,940,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,246,383. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $388.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $412.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio 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.