Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC Has $24.43 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 56,784 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 939 shares during the quarter. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $24,434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,808 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,088,000 after buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the second quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 2,196 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $982,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC now owns 44,032 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,680,000 after buying an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,047,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $418.95 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $428.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $427.39. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $380.38 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly 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. 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 prior year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.62.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last three months. Corporate 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.