Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is James Investment Research Inc.’s Largest Position

James Investment Research Inc. lowered its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 85,820 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,533 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.3% of James Investment Research Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. James Investment Research Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $36,928,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 92,018 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $39,071,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 3,108 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,337,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 5.2% in the third quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,473 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,694,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 34.6% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 133,942 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,633,000 after acquiring an additional 34,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 85,148 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,456,000 after purchasing an additional 5,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8 %

Microsoft stock opened at $421.50 on Thursday. 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 $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.78, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $428.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $428.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered shares of 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 investment 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.90.

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.