Hendershot Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,293 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 870 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.6% of Hendershot Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Hendershot Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 302,541,869 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $101,750,881,000 after purchasing an additional 8,108,943 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 129,107,118 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,313,705,000 after buying an additional 3,027,306 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $24,401,940,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 57,181,533 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,231,292,000 after buying an additional 584,273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 39,096,786 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $13,149,038,000 after acquiring an additional 652,526 shares during the period. 69.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Redburn Partners assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, June 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $370.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $320.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Microsoft from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th. Itaú Unibanco started coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, July 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $287.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $320.00 target price on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, June 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $334.31.
Microsoft Trading Down 0.6 %
MSFT stock opened at $261.47 on Thursday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $241.51 and a twelve month high of $349.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $270.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $277.26.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The software giant reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.06). Microsoft had a net margin of 36.69% and a return on equity of 43.31%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.17 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.73%.
About Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.
Further Reading
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