Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Holdings Reduced by Makena Capital Management LLC

Makena Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,239 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 6,181 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 4.4% of Makena Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Makena Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,763,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Harbor Advisory Corp MA boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.5% in the second quarter. Harbor Advisory Corp MA now owns 15,453 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Field & Main Bank increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 60,651 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $27,108,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Loop Capital upped their price target 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. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $512.66.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $434.56 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $431.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $425.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 owned by company insiders.

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.