Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Longview Partners Guernsey LTD

Longview Partners Guernsey LTD lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,518,359 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 210,170 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.0% of Longview Partners Guernsey LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $678,631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC now owns 15,272 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,425,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 49,742 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,928,000 after acquiring an additional 2,579 shares during the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 5,904 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,997 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,468,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deltec Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC now owns 71,127 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,925,000 after buying an additional 3,980 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were 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 directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were 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 directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This 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

Microsoft stock opened at $425.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $360.36 and a 52-week 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $420.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $424.80.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Citigroup dropped their price target 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. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.