Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s second largest holding.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Microsoft Co. shares. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 11.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 540,969 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 72,412 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.8% of Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Holdings of Westwood Holdings Group Inc. holdings in Microsoft were worth $227,596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after purchasing an additional 842,884 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $9,625,201,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,591,126,000 after purchasing an additional 277,881 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the shares are currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Changes in Analyst Ratings

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $494.72, based on data from MarketBeat.com.

Check out our latest research report on Microsoft

Insider buying and selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC’s website. 0.03% of shares are owned by company insiders.

Microsoft pricing performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $416.79 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $435.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $422.82. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.09, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.23, and a current ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $309.45 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. In the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 per share. As a group, research analysts expect Microsoft Co. to post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announces dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15. This represents an annualized dividend of $3.00 and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Microsoft profile

(Free report)

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 consumer office services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, on-premise Office licensing, and other office services.

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