Tradewinds LLC. Acquires 665 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Tradewinds LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,447 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 5.2% of Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.0% during the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,763,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Advisory Corp MA raised its holdings in Microsoft by 7.5% during the second quarter. Harbor Advisory Corp MA now owns 15,453 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Field & Main Bank raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 60,651 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $27,108,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $434.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $431.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $425.30. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $385.58 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $509.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $512.66.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was 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 worth $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.