Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,727,687 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,064,280 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.5% of Bank of Montreal Can’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.18% of Microsoft worth $3,496,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,422,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $351,001,000 after buying an additional 196,338 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.2% in the first quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 16.2% in the first quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 8.2% in the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Fundamental Research lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $295.00 to $337.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $322.88.
Microsoft Stock Down 0.5 %
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $52.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.01 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.25% and a return on equity of 38.98%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.22 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.47%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total value of $1,550,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 110,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,169,370.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total value of $1,550,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 110,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,169,370.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total transaction of $269,380.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 117,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,614,975.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,767 shares of company stock worth $12,461,061. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
About Microsoft
Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.
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