Brown Capital Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Brown Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,174 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,820,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.0% during the 2nd 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. TNF LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.5% during the second quarter. TNF LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $992,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Finally, Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,816,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were 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 directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $447.24 on Wednesday. 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 $3.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $431.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.08.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. 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.