Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Reduced by 626 Financial LLC

626 Financial LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,677 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 622 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.4% of 626 Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. 626 Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% during 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. UBS Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $437.42 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $420.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $426.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $364.13 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

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

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 issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total value of $1,077,175.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,203,211.24. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 96,578 shares of company stock valued at $39,679,056 in the last quarter. 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.