Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Raises Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 897,433 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,467 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 10.3% of Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $386,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,392 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,332,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. Chris Bulman Inc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Chris Bulman Inc now owns 2,607 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Plan Group Financial LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 52.7% in the 3rd quarter. Plan Group Financial LLC now owns 1,174 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 38.3% during the 3rd quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 15,927 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,854,000 after buying an additional 4,407 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the third quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 898,423 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $385,417,000 after buying an additional 13,690 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $505.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6 %

Microsoft stock opened at $454.46 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $425.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $428.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

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

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.