Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Decreased by Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd.

Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd. cut its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 38,020 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,125 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 7.2% of Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,993,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $80,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $428.15 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.07, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $326.94 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $420.59 and its 200 day moving average is $424.59.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $502.97.

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.