Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Granite Group Advisors LLC

Granite Group Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,998 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 168 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.1% of Granite Group Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Granite Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First National Bank Sioux Falls boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the second quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,834,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. BCK Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Flagship Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the second quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 913 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,309,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,455,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group upped 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, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $418.95 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $380.38 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $428.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $427.53. The company has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Microsoft

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.