Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,345,971 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 12,362 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 5.1% of Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $676,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Optas LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Optas LLC now owns 25,001 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,996,000 after purchasing an additional 651 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 44,418 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,652,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Quilter Plc lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 844,299 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $202,480,000 after buying an additional 11,563 shares in the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 41.9% in the third quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 2,908 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $677,000 after buying an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 200,299 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $48,036,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Trading Down 1.4 %
Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $4.69 during trading on Friday, hitting $335.02. The stock had a trading volume of 23,146,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,336,088. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $317.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.40. The stock has a market cap of $2.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.30, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.88. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $213.43 and a 12 month high of $351.47.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.01 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.25% and a return on equity of 38.98%. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.47%.
Insider Activity at Microsoft
In related news, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total transaction of $418,462.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,588.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Microsoft news, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total transaction of $418,462.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,588.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.09, for a total transaction of $9,182,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,952,107.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 51,331 shares of company stock worth $15,867,278 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $347.00 to $385.00 in a research note on Friday, June 9th. Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $263.00 to $306.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $340.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $337.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $334.17.
Microsoft Profile
Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.