Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Liontrust Investment Partners LLP

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 515,470 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 20,265 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.7% of Liontrust Investment Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $256,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $632.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 24th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $632.34.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0%

MSFT stock opened at $478.53 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.03, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $504.05 and a 200-day moving average of $502.65.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.