Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Nexus Investment Management ULC

Nexus Investment Management ULC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,650 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 7,990 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.3% of Nexus Investment Management ULC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Nexus Investment Management ULC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $33,413,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 62.0% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after buying an additional 43,327 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 4.3% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after buying an additional 1,467 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,152,072 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,746,860,000 after buying an additional 499,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 9,414 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,961,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total value of $874,640.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 51,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,675,916.64. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 98,578 shares of company stock worth $40,553,696. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $442.62 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $421.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $426.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $364.13 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $504.36.

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.