Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Sells 136,658 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,768,079 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 136,658 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 4.6% of Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. owned 0.08% of Microsoft worth $2,431,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Verus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $1,248,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 161,701 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,157,000 after purchasing an additional 6,426 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $594,000. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC now owns 190,212 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $80,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baker Boyer National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank now owns 8,309 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,502,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price target on the stock. 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. DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1 %

MSFT opened at $391.26 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $376.91 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $408.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $419.65. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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 previous year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.