Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 220,169 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bridgewater Associates LP lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 870,178 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 220,169 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.1% of Bridgewater Associates LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $374,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.0% during the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,763,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.5% during the second quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 84,346 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $37,698,000 after acquiring an additional 2,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.8% in the second quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 968,000 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $421,899,000 after buying an additional 26,024 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $415.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.42, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $432.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $424.61.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.38% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Profile

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.