Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Patron Partners LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Patron Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,895 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 432 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 3.1% of Patron Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $424.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $384.81 and a one year high of $468.35. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $429.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $426.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

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.