Mackenzie Financial Corp Has $2.39 Billion Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mackenzie Financial Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,349,199 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 26,969 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.6% of Mackenzie Financial Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned 0.07% of Microsoft worth $2,390,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings 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 worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 241.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.2 %

Microsoft stock opened at $423.03 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $421.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.32. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 in the last ninety days. 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.