Caxton Associates LP Trims Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Caxton Associates LP decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 43.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 32,810 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 25,607 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 471.4% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 5,812,933 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,366,153,000 after buying an additional 4,795,536 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,647,150.58. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.68.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $474.96 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $480.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $428.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $418.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect 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, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

About Microsoft

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.