Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV Grows Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 24.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,706 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.3% of Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 67.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,566,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 31,648.5% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,996 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft 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 owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents 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 sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. 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. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.46.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $436.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $427.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $428.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $366.50 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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.