Granite Investment Partners LLC Sells 2,026 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Granite Investment Partners LLC decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 176,713 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,026 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.3% of Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $78,982,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 42,471 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 253,061 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,106,000 after purchasing an additional 2,862 shares during the period. Retirement Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 720,835 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $322,177,000 after purchasing an additional 54,284 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 912,235 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $407,723,000 after purchasing an additional 31,764 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.1 %

MSFT stock opened at $420.18 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $420.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.80. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $357.63 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan 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 plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. 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 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. KeyCorp increased their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.