Applied Capital LLC FL Cuts Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Applied Capital LLC FL decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,551 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.1% of Applied Capital LLC FL’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Applied Capital LLC FL’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,439,407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,222,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during 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 valued at $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.43.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $388.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $376.91 and a one year high of $468.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $412.43 and its 200-day moving average is $420.59. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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 net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

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.