Provident Trust Co. Has $3.87 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Provident Trust Co. raised its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,994 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 696 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 0.1% of Provident Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Provident Trust Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,870,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 67.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,344,566 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,299,767,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938,304 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 31,648.5% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,996 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Citigroup cut their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson downgraded shares of 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. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $418.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $380.38 and a 12-month 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. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $428.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $427.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly 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 company 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 company earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

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.