Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Sells 128 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,489 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 128 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.9% of Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, Bellevue Group AG boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 47.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $506.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $493.47.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $416.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.25, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $324.39 and a one year high of $468.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $417.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $424.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.40%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last 90 days. 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.