Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Lowered by Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA

Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 36,568 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 608 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 7.6% of Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,735,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake 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 valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,467 shares in the last quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the first quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,722,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 42.0% during the first quarter. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV now owns 4,852 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $422.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $421.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.39. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Company 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.