Capital Market Strategies LLC Cuts Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Capital Market Strategies LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,955 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 119 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 8.0% of Capital Market Strategies LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,612,000 after buying an additional 43,327 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 161,605 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $67,991,000 after buying an additional 2,098 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 68,881 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,980,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 54.5% during the first quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 54,892 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,095,000 after acquiring an additional 19,361 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. 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 research note on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One equities 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $415.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $422.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $426.13. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.30, a PEG ratio of 2.20 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 one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s 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 completion of 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 1.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837 in 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.