Hartford Investment Management Co. Has $188.29 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Hartford Investment Management Co. trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 500,729 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 10,566 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 7.0% of Hartford Investment Management Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $188,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 37,189 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,743,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Microsoft by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc now owns 708 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC now owns 7,869 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,484,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northside Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC now owns 33,738 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,653,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price on the stock. Macquarie boosted their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $434.05.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $409.06 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $414.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $387.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $275.37 and a 1 year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 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 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

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.