Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stake Lifted by Tidemark LLC

Tidemark LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,079 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the quarter. Tidemark LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $895,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. First National Bank Sioux Falls raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,834,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,309,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,455,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 6,986 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,108,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. 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 quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $512.66.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $444.06 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 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $430.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $425.69. The company has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

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.