Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 4.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 142,204 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,080 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.7% of Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $43,843,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 8,108,943 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $24,401,940,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 57,181,533 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,231,292,000 after buying an additional 584,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 39,096,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $13,149,038,000 after buying an additional 652,526 shares during the last quarter. 69.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Microsoft Stock Down 0.7 %
Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $287.02 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $241.51 and a one year high of $349.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $263.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $279.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.77, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.93.
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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm earned $2.17 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 17th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.73%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $349.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 26th. Redburn Partners started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, June 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $370.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $372.00 to $354.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 12th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $335.72.
Microsoft Company Profile
Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. Its Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, as well as related Client Access Licenses (CAL); Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.
See Also
Receive News & Ratings for Microsoft Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Microsoft and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.
