Geneva Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Geneva Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,942 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 689 shares during the quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Private Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 701 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 372,241 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $160,175,000 after purchasing an additional 55,866 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 25,008 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,761,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the period. Missouri Trust & Investment Co lifted its position in Microsoft by 17.4% in the third quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 68,514 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,481,000 after buying an additional 10,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 332,251 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $142,968,000 after buying an additional 908 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $429.03 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a PEG ratio of 2.22 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $429.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $426.57.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $509.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $511.53.

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.