Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,473,908 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 23,283 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 7.0% of Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $634,223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Bellevue Group AG boosted its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on 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 reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $423.46 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $362.90 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $420.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $426.46.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Microsoft

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.