Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Decreased by Proficio Capital Partners LLC

Proficio Capital Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,462 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,051 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.1% of Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,767,000 after acquiring an additional 97,075 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,768,771,000 after buying an additional 1,563,533 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,651,058 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,734,651,000 after purchasing an additional 501,954 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 14,738,956 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,587,576,000 after acquiring an additional 45,220 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.62.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $417.19 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $384.81 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $429.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.98. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.42, 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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.