Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Groupama Asset Managment

Groupama Asset Managment reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFTFree Report) by 0.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,074,521 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 13,968 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 11.2% of Groupama Asset Managment’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,146,298,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Microsoft Stock Down 2.0%

MSFT stock opened at $381.35 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $418.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $472.02. The company has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFTGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 target price (down from $650.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Melius Research set a $430.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.87.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Microsoft

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Profile

(Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

See Also

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFTFree Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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.