Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Lowered by Hayek Kallen Investment Management

Hayek Kallen Investment Management reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 61,568 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,167 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 9.3% of Hayek Kallen Investment Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Hayek Kallen Investment Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after acquiring an additional 2,744,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $846,072,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $431.20 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $362.90 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $420.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 134,578 shares of company stock worth $55,279,956. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

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.