King Luther Capital Management Corp Trims Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lessened its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,097,013 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 28,172 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 6.2% of King Luther Capital Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,384,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Bellevue Group AG raised its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 36.8% during the 1st quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 305 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the 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 directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $420.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $357.63 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $420.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $424.80.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business 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 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.95 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved 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 management believes its stock is undervalued.

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 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 yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho increased their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.