Metropolis Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 185,962 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $47,761,000. Microsoft comprises 2.5% of Metropolis Capital Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,739,000. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 2,600,415 shares of the software giant's stock worth $874,571,000 after purchasing an additional 53,296 shares during the last quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $724,000. Zhang Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 228.9% during the fourth quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 48,413 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,283,000 after purchasing an additional 33,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 85,290 shares of the software giant's stock worth $27,550,000 after purchasing an additional 6,291 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research cut their price target on Microsoft from $320.00 to $275.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $320.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 6th. Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 22nd. They set a "hold" rating and a $285.00 price target for the company. Itau BBA Securities started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, July 26th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $287.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wedbush dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $340.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $332.77.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The software giant reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.28 by ($0.05). Microsoft had a return on equity of 43.31% and a net margin of 36.69%. The business had revenue of $51.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $52.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 16th. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 25.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.25, for a total value of $1,331,250.00. Following 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 the SEC website. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Profile

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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.

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