Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd Raises Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 760,011 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,422 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.7% of Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $326,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 43,327 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,099,000 after buying an additional 1,467 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 9.7% during the first quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,948 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,344,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. Finally, Sax Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the first quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,956 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,975,000 after buying an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $447.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $424.16 and a 200 day moving average of $427.63. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $364.13 and a 52 week high of $468.35. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $505.43.

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.