F M Investments LLC Has $109.40 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

F M Investments LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 254,404 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 7,718 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.7% of F M Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. F M Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $109,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third 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 buying an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,426,767,000 after acquiring an additional 97,075 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,768,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,533 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,587,576,000 after purchasing an additional 45,220 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $421.50 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $428.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.45. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $366.50 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

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.