Twin Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 178,855 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,868 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.9% of Twin Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Twin Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $55,143,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,401,940,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 302,541,869 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $101,750,881,000 after acquiring an additional 8,108,943 shares during the period. Castleview Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $11,872,000. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,476,729 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,868,814,000 after purchasing an additional 3,207,415 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 129,107,118 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,313,705,000 after purchasing an additional 3,027,306 shares during the last quarter. 69.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Microsoft Stock Performance
Shares of MSFT stock opened at $261.47 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.12, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $270.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $277.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.78. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $241.51 and a fifty-two week high of $349.67.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The software giant reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.06). Microsoft had a return on equity of 43.31% and a net margin of 36.69%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.17 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 18th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 17th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.73%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $340.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $363.00 to $335.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Microsoft from $350.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th. Credit Suisse Group set a $400.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, July 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $334.31.
Microsoft Company Profile
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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