Brown Shipley& Co Ltd Has $32.04 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Brown Shipley& Co Ltd lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 71,687 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,084 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 14.5% of Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $32,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 38.7% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 13,547 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,055,000 after buying an additional 3,782 shares in the last quarter. Newport Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $2,037,000. Wallace Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 22.7% during the second quarter. Wallace Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,242 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,449,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,693 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $426.89 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $421.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $425.43. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $362.90 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.22, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837. 0.03% of the stock is owned by 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.