AMS Capital Ltda Grows Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

AMS Capital Ltda grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 60,357 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,784 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 4.5% of AMS Capital Ltda’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. AMS Capital Ltda’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Detalus Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 7,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,214,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.0% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 16,876 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,262,000 after purchasing an additional 1,388 shares during the last quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the third quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 11,900 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,120,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the third quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 12,376 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,175,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC now owns 42,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,455,000 after buying an additional 3,446 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $508.46.

Microsoft Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $437.39 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $426.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $428.20. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $366.50 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.09, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

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.