T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,783,696 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,428,432 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.3% of T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.15% of Microsoft worth $5,215,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WealthPoint Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,709,000. Van Diest Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $2,842,000. Compound Planning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 123,045 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,507,000 after acquiring an additional 10,582 shares during the last quarter. Claris Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $6,809,000. Finally, TMB Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $5,750,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $379.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $412.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $425.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly building a more than $1 billion annual AI and cloud business with ByteDance in China, underscoring strong demand for its Azure and OpenAI-related services. Microsoft Scores Massive China AI Win as TikTok Parent Eyes $1 Billion Spend
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s push to monetize ChatGPT with ads highlights continued AI commercialization, which may support sentiment around Microsoft’s OpenAI stake and AI strategy. OpenAI Brings ChatGPT Ads to Japan
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is said to be moving Copilot to usage-based pricing and exploring cheaper AI models, a sign it is trying to improve margins as AI infrastructure costs rise. Microsoft (MSFT) Moves Copilot To Usage Based Pricing As AI Costs Rise
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports say investors are increasingly worried about Microsoft’s AI valuation, spending, and monetization, which is weighing on the stock. Microsoft Faces AI Expectations Test
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also facing securities class-action lawsuits and investigations over alleged misleading AI-related statements, adding legal uncertainty. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC Urges Microsoft Corporation Investors to Act: Class Action Filed Alleging Investor Harm
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft walked away from a potential $3 billion Oracle cloud deal suggest possible friction in securing additional cloud capacity. Why Microsoft Stock Slumped Today

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. China Renaissance reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Arete Research boosted their price target on Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price objective (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $561.20.

Microsoft Company Profile

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).