Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Decreased by J. W. Coons Advisors LLC

J. W. Coons Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 44,970 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 28 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 4.8% of J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Taurus Asset Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 184,254 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $79,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,813 shares during the last quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. now owns 37,624 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,189,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 57.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,935 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,554,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares during the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 166.7% during the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 38,647 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,630,000 after purchasing an additional 24,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glass Wealth Management Co LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 29,652 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,759,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $446.71 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. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company’s 50 day moving average is $430.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $425.55. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.86, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp upped their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $512.66.

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.