Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,557,451 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 818,600 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.0% of New York State Common Retirement Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.16% of Microsoft worth $4,346,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,625,201,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 277.8% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,004,341 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,633,912,000 after acquiring an additional 5,150,160 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $679,928,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $454.70.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $427.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.97, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $416.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $398.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $433.60.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

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.