Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Sells 22,614 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 57.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,049 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 22,614 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $75,000. Bellevue Group AG grew its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% in 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 period. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. 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 note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $425.20 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $421.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $425.44. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $362.90 and a 12-month 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 firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors 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 boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.75%.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. 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 this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft 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.