Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Lincoln Capital Corp

Lincoln Capital Corp trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,914 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 155 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 8.8% of Lincoln Capital Corp’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Lincoln Capital Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,322,513,000 after purchasing an additional 652,493 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.54.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $383.27 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $413.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $421.06. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $376.91 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.86, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

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.