Anderson Hoagland & Co. Decreases Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Anderson Hoagland & Co. reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 111,317 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 5,354 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 4.9% of Anderson Hoagland & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Anderson Hoagland & Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $47,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,322,513,000 after purchasing an additional 652,493 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,104,959,000 after buying an additional 406,940 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.43.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $388.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $412.43 and a 200 day moving average of $420.59. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $376.91 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

Microsoft Company 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.