Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Baskin Financial Services Inc.

Baskin Financial Services Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 148,518 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,181 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.2% of Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $63,907,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after acquiring an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,767,000 after acquiring an additional 97,075 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,768,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,533 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,587,576,000 after purchasing an additional 45,220 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $504.36.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $442.62 on Friday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $364.13 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $421.16 and a 200-day moving average of $426.89. The stock has a market cap of $3.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 98,578 shares of company stock worth $40,553,696. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.