Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Sarasin & Partners LLP’s 3rd Largest Position

Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,427,433 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,675 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.9% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $600,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 26.1% during the third quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 188,360 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,475,000 after acquiring an additional 39,034 shares during the last quarter. Archvest Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Archvest Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,269 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,032,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $237,000. AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. now owns 19,561 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,177,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Finally, Ibex Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $21,906,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $456.73 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $424.11 and its 200-day moving average is $410.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 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 $457.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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 return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Macquarie lifted their target price on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $467.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.