Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 102,210 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 781 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 5.1% of Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $43,398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew 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 worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. CGN Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the second quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 24,725 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,051,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 11.3% during the second quarter. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC now owns 7,752 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,465,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 47.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 846 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gill Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Gill Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,941 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,102,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 completion of 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 sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective for the company. in a report 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $430.53 on Friday. 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $428.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $428.88. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

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

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

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.