Wharton Business Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wharton Business Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,158 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the quarter. Wharton Business Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in 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 buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,566,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,483 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 5,344,566 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,299,767,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,304 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, 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. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. TD Cowen dropped their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Microsoft from $548.00 to $540.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6 %

Microsoft stock opened at $444.06 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $430.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $425.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

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 firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 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.