Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Legacy Bridge LLC’s 5th Largest Position

Legacy Bridge LLC reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,951 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 681 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 1.8% of Legacy Bridge LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Legacy Bridge LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 206,981 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $89,117,000 after buying an additional 24,040 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the third quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 67,243 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,935,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at about $6,788,000. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 25.8% in the third quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,149 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,937,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Finally, Belmont Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 17.4% during the third quarter. Belmont Capital LLC now owns 110,331 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,476,000 after purchasing an additional 16,384 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $509.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $548.00 to $540.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target 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. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $512.66.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $444.06 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $431.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $425.82. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. 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.