Rockland Trust Co. Has $94.90 Million Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Rockland Trust Co. raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 225,147 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,446 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 4.8% of Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $94,899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 67.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,566,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,348 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222,483 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $408.25 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $425.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $423.04. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. 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 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total value of $423,480.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,931,278.28. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.