Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Lessened by Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA

Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,298 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,371 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 7.0% of Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st 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. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,587,576,000 after purchasing an additional 45,220 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,640,068 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,096,428,000 after purchasing an additional 360,171 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Microsoft by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,931,721 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,019,942,000 after buying an additional 1,613,050 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $502.97.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $428.15 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $420.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $424.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $326.94 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.