Essex LLC Cuts Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Essex LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 16,278 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 128 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.4% of Essex LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Essex LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,645,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA grew its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 55.9% in the second quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd grew its position in Microsoft by 10.9% in the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 106,292 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,737,000 after acquiring an additional 10,421 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $504.36.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $449.56 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.09, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $364.13 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $422.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $427.35.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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

About Microsoft

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.