Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Cut by Longview Partners Guernsey LTD

Longview Partners Guernsey LTD reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,518,359 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 210,170 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.0% of Longview Partners Guernsey LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $678,631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Arista Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 213.0% during the second quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,997 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,681,000 after buying an additional 4,081 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.1% during the second quarter. Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 11,232 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,020,000 after buying an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC now owns 30,280 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $13,444,000 after buying an additional 582 shares in the last quarter. TPG Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $3,702,000. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 69.3% during the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 116,557 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $52,095,000 after acquiring an additional 47,703 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $425.43 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $360.36 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $420.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $424.80. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding 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 typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft 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.