Gemmer Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Gemmer Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,545 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Gemmer Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Family Investment Center Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. Family Investment Center Inc. now owns 2,224 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $957,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. FCG Investment Co boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 28,001 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,049,000 after purchasing an additional 2,431 shares during the period. Greenspring Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 20.6% during the third quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC now owns 5,037 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,167,000 after buying an additional 860 shares during the period. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,556 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IVC Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,237 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,393,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup reduced 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. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.90.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was 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 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $439.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $366.50 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $427.76 and its 200 day moving average is $428.69.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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

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.