Addenda Capital Inc. Lowers Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Addenda Capital Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 104,284 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,313 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.9% of Addenda Capital Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Addenda Capital Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $39,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake 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 worth $6,749,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796,956 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,620,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,353,488,000 after acquiring an additional 207,591 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $407.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $414.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $386.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $275.37 and a 52 week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

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.