First Foundation Advisors Cuts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

First Foundation Advisors cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,062,381 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,934 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 18.1% of First Foundation Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $474,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. New Harbor Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 55.9% in the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 296.7% in the 1st quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after buying an additional 2,264 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank raised its stake in Microsoft by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 81,502 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,427,000 after buying an additional 12,994 shares during the period. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% in the first quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 12,521 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,268,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leeward Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 15.8% in the first quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 35,610 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,982,000 after acquiring an additional 4,861 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $424.60 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $420.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.56. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $326.94 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.76, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. DA Davidson lowered 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. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.58.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last quarter. 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.