Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Decreased by Montis Financial LLC

Montis Financial LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,124 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 345 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.5% of Montis Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Montis Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $5,587,119,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Microsoft by 77.6% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,642,931,000 after purchasing an additional 2,744,900 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at $989,814,000. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at $846,072,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft 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 directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents 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 valued at $77,916,485 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $428.15 on Monday. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $420.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $424.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.07, a PEG 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors 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 paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $502.97.

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.