Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Whittier Trust Co.’s 3rd Largest Position

Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 901,088 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,315 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.2% of Whittier Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $387,728,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stewardship Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 148.9% in the third quarter. Stewardship Advisors LLC now owns 2,001 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,197 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 760,011 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $326,078,000 after purchasing an additional 32,422 shares during the period. Bluesphere Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. Bluesphere Advisors LLC now owns 19,679 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,468,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1858 Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 5.0% during the third quarter. 1858 Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,025 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,896,000 after buying an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $505.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5 %

MSFT opened at $447.27 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $364.13 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $424.16 and a 200 day moving average of $427.63. The firm has a market cap of $3.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share 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 purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.