Klingman & Associates LLC Purchases 2,340 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Klingman & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,111 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,340 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,957,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in 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 buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 67.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,348 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its position in Microsoft by 56.9% during the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,344,566 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,299,767,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,304 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 31,648.5% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,996 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’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 directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $418.95 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $428.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $427.23. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $380.38 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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.