Riverwater Partners LLC Sells 232 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Riverwater Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,156 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 232 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,734,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Rebalance LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. First National Bank Sioux Falls increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,834,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 913 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,309,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,455,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $508.46.

Microsoft Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $437.39 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $426.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $428.20. The stock has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.09, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $366.50 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback 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 buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.