Polaris Capital Management LLC Sells 12,800 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Polaris Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 108,926 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 12,800 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 2.3% of Polaris Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Polaris Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $45,827,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $86,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $460.56.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $0.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $423.85. 13,621,650 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,763,892. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $416.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $402.77. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $433.60. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.70, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,521 shares of company stock valued at $19,746,476 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.