Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Sage Capital Advisors llc’s 3rd Largest Position

Sage Capital Advisors llc grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,041 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 4.7% of Sage Capital Advisors llc’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Sage Capital Advisors llc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,090,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rebalance LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. First National Bank Sioux Falls raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,834,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Doheny Asset Management CA boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 6,397 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,691,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 913 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,309,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $417.00 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $421.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $426.19. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for 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%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost 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%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, 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 183,431 shares of company stock worth $74,956,968 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.