Cohen Investment Advisors LLC Sells 1,603 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cohen Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,996 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,603 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.2% of Cohen Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,883,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 398.0% during the third quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC now owns 71,438 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $30,577,000 after purchasing an additional 57,093 shares during the period. Hoffman Alan N Investment Management grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the third quarter. Hoffman Alan N Investment Management now owns 77,217 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $33,226,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the third quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 51,719 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $22,255,000 after buying an additional 977 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the third quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 306,024 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $131,682,000 after buying an additional 3,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 13.0% during the third quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 42,556 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,312,000 after buying an additional 4,895 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other 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 value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp upped their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $414.17 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.17, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $422.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.05.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.75%.

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.