Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s 4th Largest Position

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 444,116 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,982 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 3.8% of Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $191,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $75,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 10.1% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.66.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $434.56 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.85, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $431.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current fiscal 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend 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.