Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Benson Investment Management Company Inc.

Benson Investment Management Company Inc. decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,760 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 94 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 4.9% of Benson Investment Management Company Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Benson Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter worth about $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after buying an additional 18,544 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.9 %

MSFT opened at $408.25 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $425.20 and its 200-day moving average is $422.69. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total transaction of $1,077,175.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,203,211.24. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,493,820. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company 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.