Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Buys 503,020 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2,630.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 522,140 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 503,020 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $259,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $170,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Seek First Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Level Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $492.02 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.99, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $506.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $502.14.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Guggenheim set a $675.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $632.34.

Microsoft 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.