Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Coerente Capital Management’s Largest Position

Coerente Capital Management reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,196 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 264 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 9.6% of Coerente Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Coerente Capital Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $51,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $508.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $436.60 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $366.50 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $427.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $428.42.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced 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 business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company 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 yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

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

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.