Garrison Asset Management LLC Has $1.50 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Garrison Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,486 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 144 shares during the period. Garrison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Leeward Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 40,404 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,386,000 after acquiring an additional 4,202 shares in the last quarter. Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,231 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,972,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,228,198 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $528,494,000 after acquiring an additional 50,121 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 3,020,221 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,299,601,000 after acquiring an additional 53,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIDELIS iM LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FIDELIS iM LLC now owns 1,780 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $766,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.1 %

Microsoft stock opened at $423.35 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $366.50 and a twelve month high of $468.35. 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 50 day moving average of $428.62 and a 200-day moving average of $428.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.