Flputnam Investment Management Co. Acquires 18,191 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 504,636 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,191 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.5% of Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $189,763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,625,201,000. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,749,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,671,615 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,369,562,000 after acquiring an additional 88,583 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Citigroup dropped their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays increased their target price on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $413.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.82, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $413.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $393.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $307.59 and a twelve month high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.