Coerente Capital Management Sells 6,792 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Coerente Capital Management trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,460 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 6,792 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 10.5% of Coerente Capital Management’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Coerente Capital Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $53,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after buying an additional 842,884 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,381,692 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,544,532,000 after acquiring an additional 403,409 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,640,068 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,096,428,000 after acquiring an additional 360,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,931,721 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,019,942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613,050 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 17th. Argus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price target for the company. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.94.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $416.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $314.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $418.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $425.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 28.74%.

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.