Northside Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Northside Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 33,052 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 486 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.5% of Northside Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Northside Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,851 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $696,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 69,622 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $26,181,000 after buying an additional 2,652 shares during the period. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 154.9% during the 4th quarter. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC now owns 59,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $22,300,000 after buying an additional 36,039 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 63,308 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,805,000 after buying an additional 2,724 shares during the period. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,015 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $758,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $506.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $494.72.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $417.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $432.34 and a 200-day moving average of $422.67. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

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.