Guild Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Guild Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,030 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 37 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.8% of Guild Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Guild Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Microsoft by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after buying an additional 43,327 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 205.9% in the first quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 28,506 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,993,000 after acquiring an additional 19,188 shares during the period. Finally, WealthTrust Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 34.6% in the first quarter. WealthTrust Asset Management LLC now owns 10,069 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,236,000 after acquiring an additional 2,588 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $422.99 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $421.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $426.42. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688. 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.