Congress Park Capital LLC Cuts Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Congress Park Capital LLC decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,770 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 188 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.7% of Congress Park Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Congress Park Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 1st 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. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,591,126,000 after buying an additional 277,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,381,692 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,544,532,000 after buying an additional 403,409 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $494.72.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.8 %

MSFT opened at $409.44 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50 day moving average of $430.25 and a 200 day moving average of $423.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.