Capital World Investors trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 2.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 104,707,015 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,010,782 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.6% of Capital World Investors’ holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Capital World Investors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $32,282,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Sarl boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 297,123 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $91,606,000 after purchasing an additional 26,763 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 375,083 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $115,642,000 after purchasing an additional 3,128 shares in the last quarter. Planning Directions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 46.2% during the 1st quarter. Planning Directions Inc. now owns 3,116 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $961,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares in the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC now owns 55,223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,026,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 33,124 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,213,000 after purchasing an additional 3,787 shares in the last quarter. 69.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $372.00 to $354.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, June 9th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, September 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $334.31.
Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %
NASDAQ MSFT opened at $252.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.94. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $241.51 and a fifty-two week high of $349.67. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $270.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $275.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The software giant reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.06). Microsoft had a return on equity of 43.31% and a net margin of 36.69%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.25, for a total transaction of $1,331,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 109,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,244,101.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.05% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Microsoft Company Profile
Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.
Featured Stories
- Get a free copy of the StockNews.com research report on Microsoft (MSFT)
- Is This Medical Gear Maker Ready To Continue Its Rally?
- The Five (5) Hottest Stocks To Watch Ahead Of Q3 Earnings
- Has Take-Two Interactive Devolved into a One-Trick Pony?
- Can Health Drink Maker Celsius Outrun Its Monster Rival?
- Four Cheap Stocks With Interesting Insider Activity
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating).
Receive News & Ratings for Microsoft Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Microsoft and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.