Waddell & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,668 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.8% of Waddell & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Waddell & Associates LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 45,962 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,145,000 after acquiring an additional 1,448 shares during the last quarter. GenTrust LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.6% in the third quarter. GenTrust LLC now owns 16,838 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,245,000 after purchasing an additional 5,728 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,384,547 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,004,673,000 after purchasing an additional 31,945 shares during the period. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 15.2% in the third quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 662,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $284,859,000 after purchasing an additional 87,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nwam LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $113,488,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on MSFT
Microsoft Stock Performance
NASDAQ MSFT opened at $442.33 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $432.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.03.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.
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