Leeward Financial Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Leeward Financial Partners LLC grew its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,404 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,202 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.6% of Leeward Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Leeward Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the third quarter. Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,231 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,972,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,228,198 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $528,494,000 after acquiring an additional 50,121 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 3,020,221 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,299,601,000 after acquiring an additional 53,182 shares during the last quarter. FIDELIS iM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. FIDELIS iM LLC now owns 1,780 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $766,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in Microsoft by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 13,229,414 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,692,617,000 after purchasing an additional 1,707,436 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s 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 approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $423.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $428.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $428.35. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $366.50 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

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

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup reduced their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

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.