Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc Cuts Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,102 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 87 shares during the quarter. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Hoffman Alan N Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hoffman Alan N Investment Management now owns 77,217 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $33,226,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Value Partners Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 51,719 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $22,255,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 306,024 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $131,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,802 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 42,556 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,312,000 after acquiring an additional 4,895 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $414.17 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $362.90 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $422.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $426.05. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm 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 period last year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company 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 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.75%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.