Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,478 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.3% of Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 41,184 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,722,000 after buying an additional 1,519 shares during the last quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the third quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP now owns 22,694 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,767,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the third quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,142 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,073,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA now owns 12,985 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,587,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

MSFT opened at $437.03 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $366.50 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $426.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $428.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.06, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $508.46.

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.