W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. Sells 180 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,118 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 180 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.4% of W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,505,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 67.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,344,566 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,299,767,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in 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 during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price 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, KeyCorp raised their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $427.85 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $369.01 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $428.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $427.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.30, 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 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 business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company 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 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.